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Glite Dictionary
stamp tax

stamp tax

1 7.2
A payment you make by buying an official stamp and putting it on certain documents
  • noun
  • /stæmp tæks/
  • UK
translation icon : impuesto de timbre
  • The government increased the stamp tax on all printed materials to raise additional revenue.

Examples

  • There's a "stamp tax" on pretty nearly every European exchange, which amounts to the same thing.

    Blog text (4)

  • SOR is financed with a documentary stamp tax placed on all real estate transactions in Florida.

    Academic text (1991)

  • When selling a property, you must pay a stamp tax that is based on the sale price.

  • In some countries, a stamp tax is required for legal documents to be valid.

Synonyms

stamp duty
vsstamp tax
  • UK
1 4.8

A tax you pay on certain legal papers, for example when buying a house

covers taxes on documents and publications, not just legal papers

Surface Forms

stamp tax singular
stamp taxes plural

Morphology

stamp + tax

The meaning is directly built from 'stamp' + 'tax': it denotes a government charge associated with stamps or the requirement to buy/affix an official stamp to documents. A B1 learner who knows both constituent words can reasonably infer this administrative sense (similar to 'stamp duty' in many languages), so the expression is compositionally transparent.

Etymology

Stamp tax comes from an old practice: people had to buy an official stamp and stick it on a document to show they had paid a tax. So the phrase means the tax shown by that stamp, or simply 'a tax you pay by putting a stamp on a document'.