View source for Mill (currency)

{{Short description|Unit of currency, worth one one-thousandth of the main unit}}
{{More citations needed | 1 = article | date = August 2023}}
{{Infobox currency sign
|sign     = ₥
|name     = Mill sign
|unicode  = {{unichar|20A5}}
|currency = Mill (currency)
}}
The '''mill''' ([[American English]]) or '''mil''' ([[Commonwealth English]], except [[Canada]]) is a unit of [[currency]], used in several countries as one-thousandth of the base unit. It is symbolized as '''₥''' ({{unichar|20A5|nlink=}}).{{efn|The [https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U20A0.pdf MILL SIGN] character in Unicode}}

In the United States, it is a notional unit equivalent to a thousandth of a [[United States dollar]] (a hundredth of a [[dime (United States coin)|dime]] or a tenth of a [[cent (currency)|cent]]). In the United Kingdom, it was proposed during the decades of discussion on [[Decimal Day|decimalisation]] as a {{frac|1000}} division of the [[pound sterling]]. While this system was never adopted in the United Kingdom, the currencies of some British or formerly British territories did adopt it, such as the [[Palestine pound]] and the [[Maltese lira]].

The term comes from the [[Latin]] "millesimum", meaning "thousandth part".<ref>''Shorter Oxford English Dictionary'', 6th Ed., Vol. 1, at 1782</ref>

==Usage==

===United States===
[[File:Missouri 1 Mill Tax Token.jpg|thumb|right|[[Missouri]] mill token]]
In the United States, the term was first used by the [[Continental Congress]] in 1786, being described as the "lowest money of account, of which 1000 shall be equal to the federal dollar".<ref>''[http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hlaw:@field(DOCID+@lit(jc0317)) Journals of the Continental Congress],'' August 28, 1786</ref>

The [[Coinage Act of 1792]] describes milles and other subdivisions of the dollar:

{{blockquote|That the [[Unit of account|money of account]] of the United States shall be expressed in dollars or units, [[Dime (United States coin)|{{not a typo|dismes}}]] or tenths, [[Cent (United States coin)|cents]] or hundredths, and milles or thousandths, a {{not a typo|disme}} being the tenth part of a dollar, a cent the hundredth part of a dollar, a mille the thousandth part of a dollar, and that all accounts in the public offices and all proceedings in the courts of the United States shall be kept and had in conformity to this regulation.<ref name="CoinageAct">{{Cite book |title=United States Statutes at Large |title-link=United States Statutes at Large |date=April 2, 1792 |publisher=Little, Brown and Company |editor-last=Peters |editor-first=Richard |volume=I |location=Boston, Massachusetts |pages=246–251 |chapter=Chapter XVI. An Act establishing a Mint, and regulating the Coins of the United States |chapter-url=https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ll/llsl//llsl-c1/llsl-c1.pdf}}</ref>}}

The U.S. Mint in Philadelphia made [[Half cent (United States coin)|half cents]] worth five mills each from 1793 to 1857.

[[Token coin|Tokens]] in this denomination were issued by some states and local governments (and by some private interests) for such uses as payment of [[sales tax]].<ref name="BrianRxm">{{Cite web |title=Sales Tax Tokens |url=http://www.brianrxm.com/comdir/cnssalestax.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210803103014/http://www.brianrxm.com/comdir/cnssalestax.htm |archive-date=2021-08-03 |access-date=2021-10-20 |website=www.brianrxm.com}}</ref> These were of inexpensive materials such as [[tin]], [[aluminium]], [[plastic]] or [[paper]]. Rising [[inflation]] depreciated the value of these tokens in relation to the value of their constituent materials; this depreciation led to their eventual abandonment. Virtually none were made after the 1960s.

Today, most Americans would refer to fractions of a cent rather than mills, a term that is widely unknown.  For example, a gasoline price of $3.019 per gallon, if pronounced in full, would be "three dollars [and] one and nine-tenths cents" or "three <point> zero-one-nine dollars". Discount coupons, such as those for grocery items, usually include in their fine print a statement such as "Cash value less than {{frac|10}} of 1 cent". There are also common occurrences of "half-cent" discounts on goods bought in quantity. However, the term "mill" is still used when discussing billing in the [[electric-power industry]] as shorthand for the lengthier "{{frac|1000}} of a dollar per [[kilowatt hour]]". The term is also commonly used when discussing stock prices, the issuance of the founder's stock of a company, and [[cigarette tax]]es.

====Property tax====
<!----this subtitle is linked---->
[[Property tax]]es are also expressed in terms of mills per dollar assessed (a [[mill levy]], known more widely in the United States as a "[[mill rate]]"). For instance, with a millage rate of 2.8₥, a house with an assessment of {{US$|100000|long=no}} would be taxed {{nowrap|1=(2.8 × 100,000) = 280,000₥}}, or {{US$|280.00|long=no}}. The term is often spelled "mil" when used in this context.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci862852,00.html |title=per mil symbol |publisher=Tech Target |access-date=2007-06-25}}</ref>

With respect to property taxes, a "mil" is also slang for one [[million]] units of currency, especially as a rate expressed [[per mille]] "‰", as one [[million]] units of currency per [[milliard]] on the [[Long and short scale|long scale of numeration]], that is, 1,000,000 per 1,000,000,000 currency units of assessed valuation on all private property throughout the "mill yard" or property-tax levy district.

====Finance====
The term mill is often used in [[finance]], particularly in conjunction with equity [[market microstructure]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tradeworx.com/media/pdf/TWX-SEC-2010.pdf |title=SEC Market Structure Concept Release |publisher=Tradeworx, Inc |page=5 |access-date=2014-10-26}}</ref> For example, a broker that charges 5 mils per share is taking in $5 every 1,000 shares traded. {{Dubious|date=January 2023}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mil Rate Calculation |url=https://www.vernon.ca/homes-building/taxes-grants/property-taxes/mil-rate-calculation |access-date=2024-10-14 |website=www.vernon.ca |language=en}}</ref> Additionally, in finance the term is sometimes spelled "mil".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tradeworx.com/media/pdf/TWX-SEC-2010.pdf |title=SEC Market Structure Concept Release |publisher=Tradeworx, Inc |page=5 |access-date=2014-10-26}}</ref> Cf. [[basis point]].

Some exchanges allow prices to be accounted in ten-thousandths of a dollar ($29.4125 = 29,412.5₥ for example).  This last digit is sometimes called a "decimill" or "deci-mill", but no exchange officially recognizes the term.

====Fiction====
<!---subtitle used to set aside material following from linked material on property tax--->
[[Mark Twain]] introduced a fictional elaboration of the mill in his 1889 novel ''[[A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court]]''. When Hank Morgan, the American [[time travel]]er, introduces decimal currency to [[King Arthur|Arthurian]] Britain, he has it denominated in cents, mills, and "milrays", or tenths of a mill (the name perhaps suggested by "[[myriad]]", meaning ten thousand or by the Portuguese and Brazilian [[milreis]]).

===Canada===
{{AI-generated|section=Canada|date=September 2025}}
In Canada, the mill rate system is fundamental for calculating property taxes at the municipal level, reflecting the amount of tax per $1,000 of assessed property value. Municipalities determine annual mill rates based on budget needs for public services like education, infrastructure, healthcare, and law enforcement.

This calculation helps standardize property taxes while allowing flexibility to address specific financial needs in each locality. Mill rates are subject to adjustment annually or periodically, depending on factors like government spending requirements, economic conditions, and shifts in property valuations, providing a fair and balanced approach to local tax funding.

For example, if a property is valued at $100,000 and the mill rate is set at 50, the tax due would be calculated as: 100,000 × (50 / 1,000) = 5,000. This straightforward calculation offers transparency for taxpayers and aids municipalities in consistent revenue collection.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Municipal Property Tax Tools and Other Taxes {{!}} Taxes and Service Fees for Municipalities |url=https://www.saskatchewan.ca/government/municipal-administration/taxation-and-service-fees/municipal-property-tax-tools |access-date=2024-10-14 |website=Government of Saskatchewan |language=en}}</ref>

===United Kingdom===
Proposed on several occasions as a means of decimalising [[pound sterling|sterling]] under the "pound and mil" system suggested in 1855 by [[Sir William Brown, 1st Baronet, of Richmond Hill|Sir William Brown MP]],<ref>[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1855/jun/12/decimal-coinage Hansard Parliamentary Papers, HC Deb, 12 June 1855, vol 138, cc1867-909]</ref> the mil was occasionally used in [[accounting]].

The 1862 report from the ''[[Select committee (United Kingdom)|Select committee]] on Weights and Measures''<ref>[http://www.metric.org.uk/Docs/DTI/met1862.pdf REPORT (1862) FROM THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON WEIGHTS AND MEASURES] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090609211239/http://www.metric.org.uk/Docs/DTI/met1862.pdf |date=2009-06-09 }}</ref> noted that the Equitable Insurance Company had been keeping accounts in mils (rather than in shillings and pence) for such purposes for over 100 years. Such a unit of a thousandth of a pound would have also been similar in value to the smallest coin in circulation, the [[Farthing (British coin)|farthing]] (worth {{frac|960}} of a pound).

By the time British currency was decimalised in 1971, the farthing had been demonetised eleven years prior, in part due to having its value eroded by inflation; thus, the mil was no longer necessary.

===Malta===
The [[Maltese lira]] was decimalised in 1972 on the "pound and mil" system. The coinage included denominations of two mils, three mils, and five mils from 1972 to 1994, with ten mils being equal to one cent. While prices could still be marked using mils until 2008, when the country switched to the [[euro]], in practice these were rounded off for accounting purposes.

=== Mandatory Palestine, Israel, Jordan ===
[[File:Five hundred mils.jpg|right|thumb|260px|500 mil (£P½) note issued by the Anglo-Palestine Bank in Tel Aviv in 1948]]
The [[Palestine pound]], used as the currency of the [[Mandatory Palestine|British Mandate for Palestine]] from 1927 to 1948, was divided into 1,000 mils. Its successor currencies, the [[Israeli pound|Israeli lira]] and the [[Jordanian dinar]] retained the {{frac|1000}} division, respectively named the ''[[Israeli pruta|pruta]]'' and ''[[Fils (currency)|fils]]''. The Israeli pruta lasted until 1960, and the Jordanian fils until 1992, and in supermarket prices and taxi meters well into the 21st century.

===Hong Kong===
Between 1863 and 1866, [[Hong Kong one-mil coin|the one-mil coin]] was the lowest denomination issued by the British government in [[Hong Kong dollar|Hong Kong]]; it was eliminated due to its unpopularity.<ref>Ma Tak Wo 2004, Illustrated Catalogue of Hong Kong Currency, Ma Tak Wo Numismatic Co., LTD. Kowloon, Hong Kong.{{ISBN|962-85939-3-5}}</ref>

===Cyprus===
The [[Cypriot pound]] was decimalised using the "pound and mil" system in 1955 and lasting until 1983. However, coins smaller than five mils ceased being used in the mid 1960s. When switched to [[Cent (currency)|cents]] in 1983, a ½-cent coin was struck that was abolished a few years later.

==Related units==
[[File:Farouk I, 1-2 milim, Egypt, 1938.jpg | thumb|220x124px | right | alt= A bronze circular coin from the kingdom of Egypt. Obverse shows elegant bust portrait of king Farouk I of Egypt facing to the left, surrounded by his name and regnal title ( Farouk the first, king of Egypt ). Reverse dominated by the denomination centered within the coin, displayed by an elegant simple design of a fraction hovering above the word Millieme in Arabic. Above that hovers the beautiful yet readable calligraphy of the state name “Kingdom of Egypt”, which arches with the coins curvature. Under the aforementioned denomination the Gregorian and Hijra dayes are displayed, sized as so to occupy enough space for the coin to aesthetically be sufficient and pleasing.  | 1/2 Millieme, Kingdom of Egypt 1938, King Farouk I]]
*The [[Egyptian pound]] is divided into 1,000 ''milliemes'', 10 milliemes equal 1 piastre (25 piastres is the smallest currently-minted coin).
*The [[Tunisian dinar]] is divided into 1,000 ''millimes'' (10 millimes is the smallest currently-minted coin, older coins of 5 millimes remain in circulation).
*The [[Kuwaiti dinar]], [[Bahraini dinar]], [[Jordanian dinar]], and [[Iraqi dinar]] are divided into 1,000 ''[[Fils (currency)|fils]]''.  The smallest coins currently minted are 5 fils (Kuwait and Bahrain), 1/4 dinar (Jordan), 25 dinars (Iraq).
*The [[Omani rial]] is divided into 1,000 ''[[Paisa|baisa]]''.
*The [[Libyan dinar]] has been divided into 1,000 ''[[dirham]]s'' since 1971.
*The [[Japanese yen]] was formerly divided into 1,000 ''rin''.  An early proposed (but not accepted) design for the 1-rin coin used "1 mil" in the Romanized text.

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Portal|Money|Numismatics}}
{{Reflist}}

{{US currency and coinage}}
{{Currency signs}}

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[[Category:Numismatics]]
[[Category:Currency symbols]]

[[fr:Millime]]