739 B
739 B
Stamp Duties
Definition
Taxes imposed on legal documents and transfers of property, requiring that certain papers bear stamps of specified values, which generate revenue from the transference of property from the dead to the living or from the living to the living.
Source Chapter
Book V, Chapter 2
Context
Smith examines stamp duties as a method of taxing property transfers, noting their advantages in certainty and low collection costs, while also discussing their tendency to diminish the capital value of property and discourage productive investment.
Economic Domain
General Theory