Sanborn Incident

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The Sanborn Incident or Sanborn Contract was an American political scandal which occurred in 1874.

William Adams Richardson, Ulysses S. Grant’s Secretary of the Treasury, hired a private citizen, John D. Sanborn, to collect $427,000 in unpaid taxes. Richardson agreed Sanborn could keep half of what he collected. Sanborn kept $213,000, of which $156,000 went to his “assistant": Richardson. Some of the "commission" found its way into the Republican campaign funds.

[edit] External links

• Biography of William A. Richardson at the Department of the Treasury
• Readings from the Tax History Project
  • 1874 Ways and Means Report Urges Repeal of Private Tax Debt Collection Law
  • Historical Perspective: The Unhappy History of Private Tax Collection by Joseph J. Thorndike.