NNP Blog
Feb
10
2026
Newman Portal Adds American Tax Token Society Newsletters
Courtesy of John Ostendorf, NNP has added the American Tax Token Society (ATTS) Newsletters for the years 2011-2025, completing a 50+ year run of the publication that began in 1971. The ATTS concluded its operation at the end of 2025, and the club leaves an extensive legacy of related research.
For those not familiar, tax tokens represent a short-lived fiscal convenience created to handle fractional sales taxes that arose when states and municipalities imposed rates like 1%, 2%, or 3% on low-priced goods. States authorized inexpensive metal or fiber tokens, typically valued at 1 mill (one-tenth of a cent), to make exact change possible. Retailers used these tokens to collect the precise tax due, then returned them in bulk to state tax authorities or wholesalers for redemption. Their use peaked in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and faded as prices rose, rounding rules were adopted, and tax rates were adjusted to avoid fractions. Today, tax tokens hearken to an era when a penny remained substantial enough that splitting it into further parts actually made sense (pardon the pun).
Link to American Tax Token Society Newsletter on NNP: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/publisherdetail/524434
For those not familiar, tax tokens represent a short-lived fiscal convenience created to handle fractional sales taxes that arose when states and municipalities imposed rates like 1%, 2%, or 3% on low-priced goods. States authorized inexpensive metal or fiber tokens, typically valued at 1 mill (one-tenth of a cent), to make exact change possible. Retailers used these tokens to collect the precise tax due, then returned them in bulk to state tax authorities or wholesalers for redemption. Their use peaked in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and faded as prices rose, rounding rules were adopted, and tax rates were adjusted to avoid fractions. Today, tax tokens hearken to an era when a penny remained substantial enough that splitting it into further parts actually made sense (pardon the pun).
Link to American Tax Token Society Newsletter on NNP: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/publisherdetail/524434
