Drawback

Drawback, in law in commerce, paying back a duty previously paid on exporting excisable articles or on re-exporting foreign goods. The object of a drawback is to let commodities which are subject to taxation be exported and sold in a foreign country on the same terms as goods from countries where they are untaxed. It differs from a bounty in that a bounty lets commodities be sold abroad at less than their cost price; it may occur, however, under certain conditions that giving a drawback has an effect equivalent to that of a bounty, as in the case of the so-called sugar bounties in Germany (see sugar). The earlier tariffs contained elaborate tables of the drawbacks allowed on exporting or re-exporting commodities, but so far as the United Kingdom was concerned (as of the early twentieth century) the system of bonded warehouses practically abolished drawbacks, as commodities could be warehoused (placed in bond) until needed for exportation.