2017-01-17 Tue

This stamp was issued by the princely state of Barwani under the central India Agency during the British rule.

India was a feudal society and the history of heavy taxation goes back to the Mughal empire. The situation was same during the existence of feudatory state till 1947. When Queen Victoria became Empress of India, British administration supported the feudal system as it averts the idea of achieving independence. Many historical account and evidences suggest that the common people had to pay as much as 50 percent of their incomes to the state in one way or another.

The colonial stamps were used for postage and revenue both because of the princely state needed funds for their budget. These princely states mostly rely on heavy taxation but that was not sufficient for fulfilling needs of the state. Hence, the excise revenue was taken from various products, value added taxes, fees on a legal document and etc to cover the cost.

This writing fees stamp of Barwani is a good example of such excise taxes. which was taken due to very high illiteracy rate in the Indian States. Writing Fees were used as a payment to an official who was able to write the legal papers.

This writing fee was issued by many other princely states one such example is the Jobat princely state under Central India Agency.

To Know more about these Motor vehicle fees stampsClick here