Securing the Repeal of a Tax on the 'raw material of thought'

When first introduced in 1712, and throughout the eighteenth century, the stamp duty on newspapers was primarily intended as a revenue raising measure with censorship as a subsidiary, but not unintended, by-product (Sadler & Oats, 2002). In the nineteenth century the stamp duty became known, more justifiably, as a 'tax on knowledge' and it was increasingly criticised as being an overt form of censorship. A campaign in the 1830s to have the tax repealed resulted in a compromise, in 1836, in the form of a significant reduction in the duty from 4d to 1d per half sheet of newspaper. The stamp duty was eventually repealed in 1855, largely as a result of the activities of 'The Newspaper Stamp Abolition Committee', a campaign run on different lines to that of the 1830s. This paper examines this second abolition campaign, which adopted unusual tactics in pursuit of the repeal of the tax. It demonstrates the tensions between social reformers and business interests in securing the repeal of a dysfunctional tax.