Stamp duty

Stamp duty is a tax that is levied on single property purchases or documents (including, historically, the majority of legal documents such as cheques, receipts, military commissions, marriage licences and land transactions). Historically, a physical revenue stamp had to be attached to or impressed upon the document to show 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 is thought to have originated in Venice in 1604, being introduced (or re-invented) in Spain in the 1610s, the Spanish Netherlands in the 1620s, France in 1651, and England in 1694.[1]

German economist Silvio Gesell proposed in 1891 that demurrage currency could be enabled by stamp duties, which would in turn stimulate economic growth.[2][3][4] Gesell referred to this monetary policy as Freigeld.

  1. ^ Dagnall, Harry (1997). Creating a Good Impression: three hundred years of The Stamp Office and stamp duties. London: HMSO. p. 100. ISBN 0116414189.
  2. ^ Rosalsky, Greg (27 August 2019). "The 'Strange, Unduly Neglected Prophet'". NPR. Retrieved 17 April 2025.
  3. ^ Bharathan, Vipin (16 August 2020). "Money That Rots Like Potatoes, Money That Rusts Like Iron, Hot Money And CBDCs". Forbes. Retrieved 17 April 2025. Gesell's solution to this was a proposal to impose a stamp tax, that cash becomes worthless unless it is renewed periodically through a stamp upon the notes. The stamp had to be paid for by giving a certain amount of that cash to the authorities. Essentially a negative interest rate that breaks the Zero Lower Bound (ZLB) on cash.
  4. ^ Mankiw, N. Gregory (18 April 2009). "It May Be Time for the Fed to Go Negative". The New York Times.

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