Studios, already burdened by duties on their raw materials, an income tax and a license fee, petitioned Congress through trade organizations, arguing that their share of the National Debt was unfairly high and that the stamps were a nuisance that ruined their pictures. After two years, their persistant efforts won out and the stamp tax was lifted August 1, 1866. The stamp tax on photographs was only a very small area in the federal government's taxation schemes. Far more revenue was generated by the tobacco, cotton, banking and distilling industries to name a few. Stamps are readily found on many types of documents, but proprietary usage is more elusive.
Photographs provide a reasonable means of studying early proprietary taxation in depth.
Only photographs were exempt from the requirement that the stamp be placed so as to be destroyed in opening a package and they are also more likely to have been saved than product packaging. This collection is the most definitive in its field and is the result of over ten years of passionate collecting and research, compiling information from philatelists, photographic historians and the I.R.S. Archives in order to better understand both studio and taxation practices of the time. While many items were discovered at flea markets, I have also acquired pieces from important philatelic collections as they have come to auction. Through philately, a new window has been opened for photographic historians, and my research has yielded previously unknown information about a number of photographers. I have also found photographic research valuable in shedding light on many philatelic concerns.