Drawbacks are rebates for taxes that have already been paid. To promote the carrying trade, governments commonly offer drawbacks on import taxes for goods that are re-exported.
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The timeline below shows where the term Drawbacks appears in The Wealth of Nations. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Book 4, Chapter 1
...with which the home country has an unfavorable balance of trade. The pro-export policies are drawbacks (tax rebates) for exporters, bounties (incentives) for key industries, trade treaties with other countries, and...
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Book 4, Chapter 4
Manufacturers and traders often petition the government to support exports. Drawbacks, or tax refunds, are desirable for domestic goods because they keep the natural division of...
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While these drawback policies weren’t unreasonable, it makes little sense to encourage the carrying trade for its own...
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Book 4, Chapter 5
...is not unreasonable. Export incentives for goods that already face export taxes should be considered drawbacks, even though they are often wrongly called bounties. And prizes offered to extraordinary manufacturers and...
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Book 4, Chapter 7
Britain uses bounties and drawbacks to encourage imports from its American colonies, while permitting drawbacks for goods originating from other...
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Book 5, Chapter 2
Then, Britain adopted the mercantile system. It replaced export duties with bounties and drawbacks, while creating different import duties for different commodities. There are no duties for materials of...
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...administering import taxes this way, maximizing revenues instead of protecting monopolies, and abandoning bounties and drawbacks, Britain could create a far simpler customs system without losing any revenue. Indeed, free trade...
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