Note: An apple a day may not keep the doctor away, but being a doctor kept stamp duty away.
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Queensland was the third colony, after Tasmania and New South Wales, to introduce a stamp duties tax.
Second Reading speech
The following are extracts from the Second Reading speech by the Colonial treasurer, Joshua P Bell, who introduced the Stamp Duties Bill into the Legislative Assembly on 18 September 1866.
| 'In moving the second reading of a Bill to impose stamp duties, I may mention that it is entirely for the purposes of revenue that this Bill has been drawn up by the government; it is, in fact, a charge upon property in every sense of the term, and a charge upon all business transactions. | 'It is a magnificent mode of extracting money from the subject' |
I believe, myself, that it is a magnificent mode of extracting money from the subject, and that after we have perfected our little arrangements for putting on the screw, the cost of collecting the duties will not exceed one per cent.
| 'The only things I have forgotten to tax are babies' | There is no means of avoiding a tax under this Bill, and it will be impossible to carry on business in any shape or form, or to draw up any documents, without coming under the operation of this beautiful invention. |
The only things I have forgotten to tax are babies. I do not think there is any charge for them; but I believe that in every subsequent phase of a man’s existence, from the time of his apprenticeship until he is laid under the sod, he will have to pay taxes under this Bill; and after his death, if he leaves property behind him, his representative will have to pay taxes under the provisions of this Bill.
We have also paid a little attention to the profession. No youngster can sign articles of clerkship to any attorney, without paying a substantial contribution towards the revenue. The charge for articles of clerkship is put down at ten guineas, a very small sum compared with the charge at home.
| The only exemption we have made is in favour of the medical profession. We have a medical gentleman, a member of this House, and we have such an extreme regard for him, that we look upon his profession with a kindly eye, and have exempted it from payment of stamp duties.' |
'The only exemption we have made is in favour of the medical profession' |
Newspaper article
The following extracts were taken from an article published in The Brisbane Courier on 24 September 1866.
'Queensland is to be additionally taxed. The fiat has gone forth that it is necessary she shall be, and in spite of what has fallen from the Colonial Treasurer that the system of taxation now proposed is to be of only a temporary character, experience has taught us that little value can be attached to such statements.
| 'It is, undoubtedly, a measure that will invade, pry into, and tax the private affairs of every colonist' |
With the view of relieving the colony from its financial difficulties four distinct projects have been put forward. An ad valorem Customs duty; the issue of Treasury Notes; the imposition of Stamp Duties, and a Leasing Aot. It will surely be a hard case if we cannot when all these are in force collect insufficient money to meet the various demands made upon us. |
We will now briefly glance at the Stamp Duty Bill, the second reading of which was passed on the Friday last. It is evident that considerable objection will be made in various quarters to this measure in its present form.
It will affect a variety of interests, and regarded in that light alone, it will necessitate great deliberation. It is, undoubtedly, a measure that will invade, pry into, and tax the private affairs of every colonist.
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The objection which the present position of our tariff question will cause to arise to the majority of our colonists is, that is appears deliberately, and of cool intention, to place the burden of taxation in so peculiar a position as to press least heavily upon those who derive the greatest benefit from the territorial extent of the colony. |
'It is only fair that all classes should consent to an equal distribution of the inconvenience' |
Even supposing that the imposition of the moderate tax upon the importation of flour and sugar failed to increase the revenue to the sum required to meet our financial necessities, a question remains behind urgently awaiting explanation. The pastoral lessees of the Crown enjoy advantages which have often provoked envious remark, and at a crisis like the one through which we are passing, it is singular that in a Parliament, the majority of which is composed of representatives of these gentlemen, the items of wool, hides and tallow, while the enquiry was what should be taxed, should have escaped scot free.
The colony has to meet a great emergency, and it is only fair that all classes should consent to an equal distribution of the inconvenience.'