1951 Excise tax on writing instruments

[lallin]

On October 26, 1951, Sheaffer issued a new price list to reflect the addition of an excise tax, to be effective November 1, 1951. I am unsure whether the tax was exclusive to writing instruments or was applicable to a range of products. I thought there might be some interest in this tax and document; I have uploaded images of the three pages to Flickr. 1951 Sheaffer price list - with excise tax

 

If you would prefere the images as scanned (not cleaned up), I can provide a PDF that includes the 3 pages; request via PM.

Edited November 11, 2008 by lallin

[gregamckinney]

Thank you for scanning and sharing these pages!

I just grabbed the high-rez versions from flickr.

 

Best regards, greg

[Inkapable]

It seems that the Fair Trade laws that Sheaffer's explanation refer to were passed starting in the 1930s in order to prevent product dumping.

 

The Virginia Law Review (27 Va. L. Rev. 518, footnote numbers omitted) explains these laws:

 

"The passage of Fair Trade Acts in forty-four states represents a victory for those producers who were alarmed at the decrease in demand for their well-known goods because of predatory price cutting and "loss leader" practices, and for those small retailers who were forced to discontinue selling these goods because of the price cutting practices of larger retailers. These acts validated contracts regulating the resale price of trade-mark, brand, or name goods. The usual types of fair trade contracts are those wherein the vendee agrees to maintain prices himself, and to exact from his purchasers similar agreements; and those by the vendor to secure agreements from all wholesalers or retailers to whom he sells not only to maintain prices themselves, but also to require agreements from their purchasers to do likewise."

Edited November 12, 2008 by Inkapable

[antoniosz]

Thanks Lallin - Especially for the 1970 Esterbrook catalog