One cent (war stamp) on each letter and postcard.
Five cents per quart on non-sparkling wines sold in Canada, and twenty-five cents per pint on champagne and sparkling wines.
One cent on each twenty-five cents retail price of proprietary articles.
The only tax that has interest to us as philatelists is the one cent impost on all letters and postcards. This came into effect on April 15th, 1915, and special stamps were issued for the purpose. These are the regular 1c postage stamps of the King George series with the words “WAR TAX”, in two lines, in large colorless block capitals between the portrait and the value. As this stamp collected a tax on letters and postcards it will undoubtedly be considered collectible by the most advanced of the philatelic purists. A 2c value was also issued in this type and while this was primarily intended for use on money orders, checks, etc., it was also quite frequently used for postage. In fact there seems to have been no necessity for these special stamps, for so long as a letter had 3c postage on it (or 2c in the case of drop letters) the law was fully complied with.
That both the 1c and 2c values were good for postage is proved by the following letter addressed to Mr. Gladstone Perry in answer to an enquiry by him:—
Post Office Department, Canada,
Ottawa, 22nd April, 1915.
Dear Sir:—
I am directed to acknowledge the receipt of your favour of the 19th inst. on the subject of War Tax Stamps.
In so far as the Post Office Department is concerned, the War Tax Stamps have only been issued in two denominations, namely:—the one cent and two cent.