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# Registration Duties

## Definition

Taxes imposed on the official recording of legal documents and property
transfers, which generate revenue from the administrative process of
registering deeds, mortgages, and other legal instruments.

## Source Chapter

Book V, Chapter 2

## Context

Smith discusses registration duties alongside stamp duties as methods of
taxing property transfers, noting their advantages in security for creditors
and purchasers, but also their potential for abuse when registration offices
are multiplied for revenue purposes.

## Economic Domain

General Theory

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