Duty (economics)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about a tax measure. For the ITV sitcom, see Duty Free (sitcom).
In economics, a duty is a kind of tax, often associated with customs, a payment due to the revenue of a state, levied by force of law. Properly, a duty differs from a tax in being levied on specific commodities, financial transactions, estates, etc., and not on individuals; thus it is right to talk of import duties, excise duties, death or succession duties, etc., but not of income tax as being levied on a person in proportion to his income.
Duty Free is the term that is often used to describe goods bought at ports and airports that do not attract the usual government taxes and customs duties.
Some countries impose allowances in order to restrict the number of Duty Free items that one person can import into the country. These restrictions often apply to tobacco, wine, spirits, perfume, eau de toilette, gifts and souvenirs.
But in some entities, such as Hong Kong, "duty free" becomes meaningless as they do not impose any sales tax or custom duty on any goods except tobacco and alcohol.
