Chapter 25
PLAYING CARD TAX STAMPS
The writer has not been able  to find any provision of the stamp-tax laws  in force during  the  Spanish regime which  imposed a stamp tax on placing, cards  in  the  Philippines*     la Spa in „  however,   an export stamp tax was  imposed upon playing cards.    Most of  the palying cards sold  in the  Philippines during  the  Spanish regime ware undoubtedly imported from Spain and a revenue,  stamp was probably affixed  to each such pack of playing cards before it left Spain.

The  Internal Revenue Law of 1904 did not  impose any specific  tax playing cards.    But a specific tax imposed on playing cards several  years later was included as Section 1498 of the  Administrative Code (Act 2711) which  became effective on October  1, 1917. Section  1498 provided  (1) a tax of twenty centavos on each pack of not more than fifty-eight cards, and (2) a proportionate additional tax for each card in excess of fifty-eight.

Act 2835, approved March 8, 1919, amended section 1498 of the Administrative Code to provide the following specific tax on playing cards: (1) a tax of thirty centavos on each pack of not more than fifty-eight cards, and (2) a proportionate additional tax for each card in excess of fifty-eight.

Act 3246, approved December 1, 1925, further amended Section 1498 of the Administrative Code to provide the following specific tax on playing cards: (1) a tax of one peso on each pack of not more than fifty-eight cards, and (2) a proportionate additional tax for each card in excess of fifty-eight.

The new Internal Revenue Code (Commonwealth Act 466), which became effective on July 1, 1939, reduced the specific tax on playing cards to the following:
 

Section 147. “Specific Tax on Playing Cards. --  (a) on each pack of cards containing not more than 58 cards, there will be collected a tax of 35 centavos, provided, however, that when the size of the playing cards is two and one-half centimeters by six centimeters or less, there shall be collected a tax of 20 centavos on each pack containing not more than 58 cards. (b) On each pack containing more than 58 cards, there shall be collected a tax established in subsection (a) and a proportionate additional tax on the number in excess of 58.”

The Administrative Code (Act 2711) did not specify the manner of collecting the specific tax on palying cards, this being left to the discretion of the Collector of Internal Revenue. The practice of affixing a Playing Cards stamp to each pack of playing cards as the means of collecting the tax was initiated in November 1919, by Administrative Order No. 58 of the Collector of Internal Revenue, entitled “Playing Card Regulations.” This order reads in part as follows:
 

Section 2. “CLASSIFICATION. – For purposes of these regulations, there are herby classified two packs of playing cards; the first, to be designated as an “Ordinary Pack,” containing a set of 58 cards or less; the second, “Special Pack,” containing a set of more than 58 cards.”

Section 8. “WHEN TAXES ARE DUE. –Specific taxes on Playing Cards manufactured in the Philippine Islands accrue as soon as the cards come into existence as such. They are payable before such cards are removed from the premises in which they are made.”

Section 10. “MANNER OF PAYMENT. – The specific internal revenue tax on playing cards manufactured in the Philippine Islands shall be paid at the time of removal by the affixture and cancellation of internal revenue strip stamps to each pack of paying cards. The stamps shall be firmly affixed to the middle of the pack running lengthwise and covering the two overlapping ends of the wrapper…..”

Section 11. “CANCELLATION AND DESTRUCTION OF THE INTERNAL REVENUE STRIP STAMPS. – The internal revenue strip stamps shall be cancelled immediately after affixture to the pack with the use of a rubber stamp….”
 

In accordance with the provisions of Administrative Order No. 58, above quoted, a “strip stamp” presumably labeled “TAX PAID STAMP – ORDINARY PACK – PLAYING CARDS – VALUE P0.30” was issued in 1919. The writer has not seen a specimen of this stamp, and is, therefore, unable to give a detailed description of it. It is probable that, when the tax was increased to P1.00 in 1925, the stamp issued in 1919 was surcharged with the new value prior to the issue of a new stamp whose value was P1.00. The writer has not, however, seen a specimen of this surcharged stamp. There was issued, probably in 1925, a “strip stamp” labeled “TAX PAID STAMP – ORDINARY PACK – PLAYING CARDS – VALUE P1.00.” This strip stamp consisted to two halves, both bearing the same control number; but one half was labeled DUPLICATE. The two halves were wrapped around the pack at right angles to each other. Each half was about 203 mm long by 20 mm wide. A “CAUTION” printed on each half “This stamp must be broken and completely destroyed upon opening of the package.” This stamp remained current until July 1, 1939, when as a result of the new law reducing the tax on ordinary pack to P0.35, it was surcharged in red with the new value.

It appears that “Special Packs”, containing more than 58 cards, are seldom manufactured or sold in the Philippines. The writer was informed by officials of the Bureau of Internal Revenue that the additional tax on such “special packs” is paid in cash and a “Miscellaneous Tax Receipt”, to which “split” INTERNAL REVENUE stamps are affixed for the amount of the tax, is issued. A “Strip stamp” is affixed to each special pack in payment of the basic tax assessed on an ordinary pack.

Although Administrative Order No. 58 applies only to playing cards manufactured in the Philippines, the same “strip stamp” is affixed at the Customs House to each pack of imported playing cards. The duty of seeing that the stamps are affixed to imported playing cards however devolves upon the Collector of Customs. This is doubtless, the reason that Administrative Order No. 58 of the Collector of Internal Revenue makes no mention of affixing the strip stamps to imported playing cards.