not feature in some of the most popular catalogues, for instance by Stanley Gibbons and Michel, unless they are revenue and postage stamps. However, both the standard Scott and the Scott Specialised United States catalogue feature US revenue stamps. The leading catalogue for revenue stamps of the United Kingdom, the British Commonwealth and several European countries is the Barefoot Catalogue. Some types of revenue stamps Court fees One of the earliest uses of revenue stamps was to pay Court Fees. Stamps were used in the Indian feudal states as early as 1797, almost 50 years before the first postal stamps. Although India is only one of several countries that have used tax stamps on legal documents, it was one of the most prolific users. The practice is almost entirely stopped now, partly due to the prevalence of forgeries which cost the issuing government revenue. Documents The tax on documents, also commonly known as stamp duty, is one of the oldest uses of revenue stamps, probably being invented in Spain, and introduced (or re-invented) in the Netherlands in the 1620s, then reaching France in 1651 and England in 1694. Governments enforce the payment of the tax by making unstamped documents unenforcable in court. The tax has been applied to contracts, tenancy agreements, wills etc. A pre-printed revenue stamp appeared on many hundis of India. Tobacco and alcohol In many countries, tobacco and alcohol are taxed by the use of excise stamps. For instance, the producer may buy stamps from the government which are then affixed to each bottle of alcohol or packet of cigarettes to show that tax has been paid. Often the stamp will be fixed across a seal so that on opening the pack or bottle the stamp is destroyed. Gallery See also Impressed duty stamp Postal tax stamp, a postal stamp which also raises fiscal revenue Stamped paper Revenue stamps of the United States Ryan Collection, a collection of Budapest municipal revenue stamps Turner Collection of Newspaper Tax Stamps References Further reading Catalogues by Alfred Forbin. Catalogues by Walter Morley. Akerman, Clive. The Presentation of Revenue Stamps: Taxes and Duties in South America. New edition. The Revenue Society of Great Britain, 2002. Revenue philatelic societies American Revenue Association Fiscal Philatelic Society The Revenue Society The State Revenue Society External links The American Revenuer – archive 1963–2015 Revenue and Railway stamps of Australia State of New York Stock Transfer