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:
“If we can’t stamp out literature in the country, we can at least stop its being brought in from outside.”
—Evelyn Waugh (1903–1966)
“Meek young men grow up in libraries, believing it their duty to accept the views which Cicero, which Locke, which Bacon, have given, forgetful that Cicero, Locke, and Bacon were only young men in libraries, when they wrote these books. Hence, instead of Man Thinking, we have the book-worm.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)