Stamp Act 1712

Add links
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Act of Parliament
Commencement
5 July 1765
Repealed1 July 1855
Other legislation
Repealed byRevenue Officers' Disabilities Removal Act 1874
Status: Repealed

The Stamp Act 1712 (cited either as

chilling effect on publishers; Jonathan Swift was a frequent publisher of newspapers, and complained in a letter[7] about the new tax. Other than newspapers, it required that all pamphlets, legal documents, commercial bills, advertisements, and other papers issued the tax.[8] The tax is blamed for the decline of English literature critical of the government during the period, notably with The Spectator ending the same year of the tax's enactment.[9] It would see increasingly greater taxes and wider spectrum of materials affected until its repeal in 1855
.

Provisions of the Act

The Act raised £5,536 worth of stamps within the first year of operation.[10] This duty would be further increased throughout its lifetime, with the maximum tax of four pence on all newspapers and three shillings and six pence on all advertisements.[2] Publications which were sponsored by the government, or received sponsorship after the act, would be exempted from the tax.[10]

The newspaper tax

See also: Taxes on knowledge

The newspaper tax would be expanded through the

Newspaper and Stamp Duties Act 1819 to include all publications which sold for less than six pence, contained an opinion about news, or which were published more frequently than every twenty-six days.[11] It was repealed on 1 July 1855.[12]

Background

The tax was implemented with the stated intention of raising funds for the English state lottery, to monitor the circulation of newspapers and other periodicals, and to restrict publication of writing intended to "excite hatred and contempt of the Government and holy religion".[11] All periodicals were already required by law to state the address and name of the owner, making taxation easily enforced on publishers, and allowing the government to see where legally printed publications were coming from. In order to exempt themselves from the tax, periodical authors pledged their patronage to members of the Parliament of Great Britain, leading to publications rising and falling based on the party in power and a general distrust in periodicals of the time.[10]

Response

British essayists were critical of the tax and the effect it had on British literature. According to English writer

tax on knowledge
, and his printing presses were ordered to be destroyed. Many others greeted the arrival of the stamps with outrage and violence. Most called for a boycott and some organized attacks on the customhouses and homes of tax collectors.

References

  1. Statutes at Large (published 1763–65; and later editions), based on the copies of acts enrolled in Chancery. Both forms of citation are acceptable, and both are found in reputable secondary sources
    .
  2. ^
    JSTOR 456958
    .
  3. ^ Downie, J. A. (1979). "7 - The Stamp Act of 1712". Robert Harley and the Press: Propaganda and Public Opinion in the Age of Swift and Defoe. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
  4. ^ "BBC News - The key moments that shaped the British press". Bbc.co.uk. 17 November 2012. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
  5. ^ "A brief timeline of UK newspaper publishing". Making the Modern World. The Science Museum. Retrieved 5 December 2012.
  6. ISBN 9780674858329
    . Retrieved 7 October 2013.
  7. ^ "Letter 51". The Journal to Stella, by Jonathan Swift. The University of Adelaide. 12 November 2012. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
  8. ^ "Stamp Act". Infoplease.com. Retrieved 14 December 2012.
  9. ISBN 978-0-87413-750-7
    . Retrieved 10 December 2012.
  10. ^
    JSTOR 570644
    .
  11. ^ a b Simkin, John. "Taxes on Knowledge". Spartacus Educational. Archived from the original on 8 October 2013. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
  12. ^ "Concise History of the British Newspaper in the Nineteenth Century". British Library. 30 November 2003. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
  13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (11 November 1758). "The Idler". Payne's Universal Chronicle.
  14. ^ Clarke 2004, p. 9

Sources

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stamp_Act_1712&oldid=1195384367"