tax

¹

[taks]

noun

1. a sum of money demanded by a government for its support or for specific facilities or services, levied upon incomes, property, sales, etc.

   Synonyms: levy, impost, duty

2. a burdensome charge, obligation, duty, or demand.

verb (used with object)

1. (of a government)

   1. to demand a tax from (a person, business, etc.).

   2. to demand a tax in consideration of the possession or occurrence of (income, goods, sales, etc.), usually in proportion to the value of money involved.

2. to lay a burden on; make serious demands on.

   to tax one's resources.

   Synonyms: stretch, tire, strain

3. to take to task; censure; reprove; accuse.

   to tax one with laziness.

4. Informal.,  to charge.

   What did he tax you for that?

5. Archaic.,  to estimate or determine the amount or value of.

verb (used without object)

1. to levy taxes.

tax-

²

1. variant of taxo- before a vowel.

   taxeme.

tax

/ tæks /

noun

1. a compulsory financial contribution imposed by a government to raise revenue, levied on the income or property of persons or organizations, on the production costs or sales prices of goods and services, etc

2. a heavy demand on something; strain

   a tax on our resources

verb

1. to levy a tax on (persons, companies, etc, or their incomes, etc)

2. to make heavy demands on; strain

   to tax one's intellect

3. to accuse, charge, or blame

   he was taxed with the crime

4. to determine (the amount legally chargeable or allowable to a party to a legal action), as by examining the solicitor's bill of costs

   to tax costs

5. slang,  to steal

Other Word Forms

• taxer noun
• taxingly adverb
• taxless adjective
• taxlessly adverb
• taxlessness noun
• antitax adjective
• nontax noun
• nontaxer noun
• protax adjective
• retax verb (used with object)
• self-taxed adjective
• subtaxer noun
• undertaxed adjective
• untax verb (used with object)
• well-taxed adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of tax¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; (for the verb) Middle English taxen, from Medieval Latin taxāre, from Latin: “to appraise, charge, estimate,” literally, “to touch repeatedly,” from tangere “to touch”; noun derivative of the verb

Word History and Origins

Origin of tax¹

C13: from Old French taxer, from Latin taxāre to appraise, from tangere to touch

Idioms and Phrases

• death and taxes

Example Sentences

Labour, under pressure from its own backbenchers, adopted a number of left-wing measures in its budget this week, including raising the minimum wage, boosting child benefits and introducing a new tax on high-value homes.

Read more on Barron's

He was able to do so because he "understood tax code and finances to some degree better than maybe the most highly paid people on Wall Street", Mr Levine said.

Read more on BBC

"Afghans in the United States are hardworking, tax paying members of society," he added.

Read more on BBC

Hendricks said the company had to borrow money to cover the costs of those import taxes.

Read more on MarketWatch

However, the Office for Budget Responsibility has now confirmed that although it did indeed downgrade productivity, it also predicted this would be "offset" by higher wages increasing the government's tax revenues.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• contribution 
• cost 
• duty 
• expense 
• fine 
• levy 
• price 
• rate 
• tariff