What is stamp tax and how does it come about?

In daily life, we have to pay taxes on various items, such as: value-added tax, personal income tax, real estate tax, stamp tax, etc. But do we know what stamp duty is?

What is stamp duty?

1. Definition of stamp duty

Stamp duty refers to various contracts signed in economic activities, Taxes are levied on taxable documents such as property rights transfer documents, business account books, rights licenses, etc. For stamp duty, taxpayers purchase and affix tax stamps according to the prescribed taxable proportion and quota, which means they complete their tax obligations.

2. Who are the taxpayers of stamp duty?

Taxpayers of stamp duty include enterprises, administrative units, public institutions, military units, Social groups, other units, individual businesses and other individuals.

3. Calculation method of stamp tax

Stamp tax is calculated based on the amount, expenses, income recorded in the taxable voucher and the number of vouchers, and is calculated according to the applicable tax rate or tax amount standard Amount of tax payable.

The formula for calculating the amount of tax payable:

(1)Amount payable = amount recorded in the taxable voucher (expenses, income)?Applicable tax rate

( 2) Tax payable = number of taxable vouchers? Applicable tax standards

4. Vouchers that can be exempted from stamp duty

(1) Copies and transcripts of vouchers for which stamp duty has been paid, However, users who are deemed to be originals are excluded;

(2) Documents issued by the property owner when the property is donated to the government, social welfare units or schools that support the elderly and disabled;

(3) Agricultural and sideline products purchase contract signed between the state-designated purchasing department and village committees and individual farmers;

(4) Interest-free or subsidized loan contract;

(5 ) Contracts written by foreign governments and international financial organizations to provide preferential loans to the Chinese government and national financial institutions;

(6) Property rights transfer documents signed by enterprises due to restructuring;

(7) Agricultural products and agricultural production means purchase and sale contracts signed between farmers’ professional cooperatives and members of the cooperative;

(8) Lease contracts signed by individuals for renting or leasing housing, operation and management of low-rent housing, and affordable housing The unit's certificates related to low-rent housing and affordable housing, and the certificates of low-rent housing tenants and affordable housing purchasers related to low-rent housing and affordable housing.

5. Items that can be temporarily exempted from stamp duty

(1) Insurance contracts for agricultural and forestry crops and animal husbandry;

(2) Books, newspapers and periodicals Certificates written between issuing units, between issuing units and subscribing units, and between individuals;

(3) Investors buy and sell securities investment fund units;

(4) Approved by the State Council and The provincial people's government decides or approves the decoupling of government and enterprises, the reorganization of enterprises (groups), changes in management systems, changes in corporate affiliations, restructuring of state-owned enterprises, revitalization of state-owned enterprise assets, and the free transfer of state-owned equity;

(5) Individual sales and housing purchases. The origin of stamp duty

Stamp duty is a very ancient tax that people are familiar with, but its origin is little known. From the perspective of tax history theory, the introduction of any kind of tax is inseparable from the political and economic needs of the time, and the same is true for the emergence of stamp tax. There are many interesting anecdotes during this period.

In 1624 AD, the Dutch government experienced an economic crisis and financial difficulties. In order to solve his financial needs, Maurs, the ruler who was in power at that time, proposed to increase taxes to solve the expenditure difficulties. However, he was afraid of the people's opposition, so he asked the government ministers to provide suggestions. The ministers discussed it over and over again, but they couldn't think of a way to get the best of both worlds.

Therefore, the ruling class of the Netherlands used public bidding methods to seek new tax design plans with heavy rewards and seek ways to make money. Stamp duty is a "masterpiece" selected from the plans designed by thousands of applicants. It can be seen that the emergence of stamp duty is more legendary than other taxes.

The designer of stamp duty is very original. He observed that people use a lot of documents such as contracts and loan certificates in daily life, and they are continuous. Therefore, once taxes are levied, the tax source will be huge; moreover, people also have a mentality that the government will stamp the certificates. , it becomes a legal document and can have legal protection during litigation, so it is willing to accept the payment of stamp duty. It is for this reason that stamp duty is praised by bourgeois economists as a "good tax" with light tax burden, strong tax sources, simple procedures and low cost. British Kolebe once said: "The technology of taxation is to pluck the most goose feathers and listen to the fewest goose calls." Stamp duty is the tax that has the least amount of squawks.

Since the stamp tax first appeared in the Netherlands in 1624, European and American countries followed suit because of its simplicity and simplicity. Denmark levied stamp duties in 1660, France in 1665, the United States in 1671, Austria in 1686, and the United Kingdom in 1694. In a short period of time, it has become a commonly used tax in the world and is popular internationally. ;