TAX STAMPS

 

I was watching a Superman episode the other night. I have 'em all on DVD plus DVD's of all the episodes of the Little Rascals, The Three Stooges!!!, and The Twilight Zone. Am I in TV Baby Boomer Heaven or what!!! This Superman episode was in the "extra features" of the DVD and they were advertising "savings stamps".  I'm not sure what they are, but they reminded me of the "tax stamps" we used to collect and bring to school when we were in the elementary grades. I remember the Ohio tax stamps we had were greener and browner than the example above. Of course this may be due to my "kid eyes" when colors seemed more vivid, or the stamp above is faded after many years which is much more likely.

 

It's a strange and ironic thing that I can remember things in exact detail from over 50 years ago, but I can't remember much of anything from 50 seconds ago! Alas, welcome to "mid life"! I have to get up for a minute to let the cat out… I'm back. HEY! What am I doing here at the keyboard? Where am I? Now the biggee, WHO am I???? Oh yeah, now I remember, I was writing a story… It was a dreary rainy night and the howls of the wolves were in the far distance. All of a sudden… Hey wait! Wrong story. It just occurred to me that I'm working on a "tax stamp" story. Right? My hearing is also going too. That's why I wear "loud" clothes now. Oh well, enough of that depressing stuff! Alright, back to the story about the mating habits of the tree sloth… Hey, wait a minute! What do tree sloths have to do with "tax stamps"??? Oh yes, NOW I remember what I was doing. I checked Google for "Ohio Tax Stamps" and came up with the information below on a web site:

The Tax Stamp Cometh

by Amy Kenneley

 Tax Stamps! Those little green, two-inch-square pieces of paper, ranging from a 1-cent imprint to as much as $15 or more imprints, were the bread and butter of the schools, where they could be collected, counted and redeemed for needed school items.

Tax stamps were a part of the early school experience for many children growing up in  the 1950's. The first sales tax in Ohio began in 1935.

The tax was 3% of the total purchase. Two thirds of the amount of tax collected was to go to the schools. But how to ensure that retailers would actually charge the unpopular tax to consumers, and if they did, actually send the taxes collected to the state?

The solution was to print tax stamps of many "values" and have the retailers buy the tax stamps up front. Once they had actually paid for the tax stamps themselves, it was up to consumers to make sure they received tax stamps for their purchases.

If an item cost $1.00, then 3 cents would be the tax to add to the dollar purchase. The consumer gave the clerk a dollar bill and a nickel; the clerk gave back 2 cents and a 3 cent tax stamp.

Of course, what was a consumer to do with all those pieces of paper? Stamps could be turned in to schools or to charities. Schools and charities would in turn redeem them back to the state and collect 3 percent of the face value of the stamps. This was the sugar pill concocted to pass off an unpopular tax.

In 1962 the state of Ohio discontinued giving out tax stamps, but the 3% tax remained. In 1967, the state raised the sales tax to 4%.

Soon afterwards, a state lottery was promoted, a good portion to go "to the schools." Today, the schools are all crying for funds, and the sales tax has gone up, but all without a single tax stamp as reward.

The above information really helped me to finally understand what "tax stamps" were all about. Heretofore I never knew why they existed or for what purpose. All I knew was they were something we collected and took to school and gave them to our teachers. I can't recall where we even got them.

Thanks to the above information, we all know now what they were used for and why we Baby Boomers collected them for the school. Anyone out there remember these? (I'll bet Sue and Carolyn and other of you older readers do). If anyone of you do remember, drop me an email about your experience with them in grade school and where we got them for school. Here, I'll make it easy for you and even have the subject automatically appear in your email message!  Click on my email address and let me know!  quarterhorse3@yahoo.com This story is really "taxing" my brain.

Well,  I hope you all enjoyed this story about the social structure of ancient Egyptians.  No that's not right!!! Oh NOW I recall, it's about tree sloths. Good grief! I was really concerned about my memory at first, but it's alright now! Am I ever relieved!!!!