6 cents Ohio Sales Tax Receipt

Ohio's Depression-era sales tax receipts occupy an odd corner of notaphily — technically fiscal paper, not currency, but collected seriously by scrip and depression-era specialists. The 6-cent denomination reflects the 3% retail sales tax Ohio enacted in 1934, one of the earliest broad-based state sales taxes in the country, introduced specifically to fund relief programs as federal support remained uncertain.

Columbian Bank Note Company printed enormous quantities for rapid statewide distribution. Attrition was by design — these were meant to be handed over and discarded, which makes intact examples more interesting than their face value suggests.