Stamp duty is a tax that is levied on documents. Historically, this included the majority of legal documents such as cheques, receipts, military commissions, marriage licences and land transactions. A physical stamp (a revenue stamp) had to be attached to or impressed upon the document to denote that stamp duty had been paid before the document was legally effective. More modern versions of the tax no longer require an actual stamp.
The duty was originally introduced in the Netherlands in 1624 and spread to other countries subsequently, France 1654, Denmark 1657 and Prussia 1682.
Read more about Stamp Duty: Australia, Denmark, Hong Kong, Ireland, Singapore, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States, European Union, Further Reading
Famous quotes containing the words stamp and/or duty:
“The man whose action habitually bears the stamp of his mind is a genius, but the greatest genius is not always equal to himself, or he would cease to be human.”
—Honoré De Balzac (1799–1850)
“The duty of the State toward the citizen is the duty of the servant to its master.... One of the duties of the State is that of caring for those of its citizens who find themselves the victims of such adverse circumstances as makes them unable to obtain even the necessities for mere existence without the aid of others.... To these unfortunate citizens aid must be extended by government—not as a matter of charity but as a matter of social duty.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)