Luxembourg’s ‘Fishy’ Revenue Imprints

Fishing License Tax Imprints

Permis de Pêche
3F Revenue Imprint

Fishing, like other sporting activities, has long provided governments with an opportunity to tax sportsmen. Luxembourg was no exception, as these early twentieth-century fishing permits (“Permis de Pêche”) demonstrate.

The 1914 example seen below bears the albino embossed ‘Timbre Grand Ducal’ and a 3-franc revenue stamp imprint on the back showing the Grand Ducal coat of arms.

3F fishing permit issued at Luxembourg-Ville,
4 April 1914, to J.P. Flammant, valid for two years.

Apparently the fishing was good, as the licensee obtained a new two-year permit shortly after the permit seen above expired. His two-year permit for 1916 to 1918 is shown below.

3F fishing permit issued 4 May 1916

In 1983 the Permis de Pêche revenue imprint (now denominated 80 francs) was still in use, as seen on the Permis de Pêche Touristique license shown below, issued at Rambrouch on 16 August 1983.

In addition, the license indicates that a 70-franc “taxe piscicole [fish tax]” was charged plus a 20-franc fee paid by a communal revenue stamp on the back, nicely canceled with the Rambrouch commune’s Permis de Pêche cds.  The fishing license fee in 1983 cost 57 times more than it did in 1914 and 1916!  But the fish, as tax beneficiaries, undoubtedly were appreciative.

A multi-national collection of fishing and hunting tax revenues would make a fine thematic revenue exhibit.