Government Releases Federal Income Tax Records Dated 1862-1918

Business Week reports:

The year is 1865. Andrew Carnegie steps out of his carriage sporting a gold watch. At home in Carnegie's Pennsylvania estate, his grandchildren bang on a custom-made piano. Things are quite comfortable for the Carnegie family. And why not? The steel baron and later philanthropist would earn $84,000 that year—the equivalent of about $2 million today.

Those choice details of Carnegie's luxurious lifestyle will soon be included in a monthly Ancestry.com subscription, which runs $12.95. The genealogy Web site, which already offers access to databases covering everything from immigration to military service, is branching out to include income tax records. As part of a five-year exclusive deal for which the company paid $46,000 to the National Archives in Washington, Ancestry.com has digitized and indexed federal income tax records from 1862 through 1918.

The site's IRS Tax Records collection is an alphabetical listing of annual income as well as taxable possessions, such as Carnegie's gold watch and carriage. Another document shows President Abraham Lincoln's $25,000 income (about $566,000 today) for 1864, the year before his assassination. His tax bill: $1,296.

Big Brother releases personal financial information.We'd didn't know that was legal.