What is "stamp duty"

Stamp \Stamp\, n.

1. The act of stamping, as with the foot.

2. The which stamps; any instrument for making impressions on other bodies, as a die.

   'T is gold so pure It can not bear the stamp without alloy.
   --Dryden.

3. The mark made by stamping; a mark imprinted; an impression.

   That sacred name gives ornament and grace, And, like his stamp, makes basest metals pass.
   --Dryden.

4. That which is marked; a thing stamped.

   Hanging a golden stamp about their necks.
   --Shak.

5. [F. estampe, of German origin. See Stamp, v. t.] A picture cut in wood or metal, or made by impression; a cut; a plate. [Obs.]

   At Venice they put out very curious stamps of the several edifices which are most famous for their beauty and magnificence.
   --Addison.

6. An official mark set upon things chargeable with a duty or tax to government, as evidence that the duty or tax is paid; as, the stamp on a bill of exchange.

7. Hence: A stamped or printed device, usually paper, issued by the government at a fixed price, and required by law to be affixed to, or stamped on, certain papers, as evidence that the government dues are paid; as, a postage stamp; a tax stamp; a receipt stamp, etc.

8. An instrument for cutting out, or shaping, materials, as paper, leather, etc., by a downward pressure.

9. A character or reputation, good or bad, fixed on anything as if by an imprinted mark; current value; authority; as, these persons have the stamp of dishonesty; the Scriptures bear the stamp of a divine origin.

   Of the same stamp is that which is obtruded on us, that an adamant suspends the attraction of the loadstone.
   --Sir T. Browne.

10. Make; cast; form; character; as, a man of the same stamp, or of a different stamp.

    A soldier of this season's stamp.
    --Shak.

11. A kind of heavy hammer, or pestle, raised by water or steam power, for beating ores to powder; anything like a pestle, used for pounding or beating.

12. A half-penny. [Obs.]
    --Beau. & Fl.

13. pl. Money, esp. paper money. [Slang, U.S.] Stamp act, an act of the British Parliament [1765] imposing a duty on all paper, vellum, and parchment used in the American colonies, and declaring all writings on unstamped materials to be null and void. Stamp collector,

    1. an officer who receives or collects stamp duties.

    2. one who collects postage or other stamps, as an avocation or for investment; a philatelist.

       Stamp duty, a duty, or tax, imposed on paper and parchment used for certain writings, as deeds, conveyances, etc., the evidence of the payment of the duty or tax being a stamp. [Eng.]

       Stamp hammer, a hammer, worked by power, which rises and falls vertically, like a stamp in a stamp mill.

       Stamp head, a heavy mass of metal, forming the head or lower end of a bar, which is lifted and let fall, in a stamp mill.

       Stamp mill (Mining), a mill in which ore is crushed with stamps; also, a machine for stamping ore.

       Stamp note, a stamped certificate from a customhouse officer, which allows goods to be received by the captain of a ship as freight. [Eng.]

       Stamp office, an office for the issue of stamps and the reception of stamp duties.

n. (context economics English) A tax levied upon certain documents; a stamp being applied to show that tax has been paid.

n. a tax collected by requiring a stamp to be purchased and attached (usually on documents or publications) [syn: stamp tax]

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 is thought to have originated in Spain, being introduced (or re-invented) in the Netherlands in the 1620s, France in 1651, Denmark in 1657, Prussia in 1682 and England in 1694.