tax
noun
a sum of money demanded by a government for its support or for specific facilities or services, levied upon incomes, property, sales, etc.
tax
1 American
[taks]
/ tæks /
noun
-
taxes
plural
verb (used with object)
-
taxes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
taxed,
past participle, past
-
taxing
present participle
-
(of a government)
-
to demand a tax from (a person, business, etc.).
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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.
-
-
to lay a burden on; make serious demands on.
to tax one's resources.
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to take to task; censure; reprove; accuse.
to tax one with laziness.
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Informal. to charge.
What did he tax you for that?
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Archaic. to estimate or determine the amount or value of.
verb (used without object)
-
taxes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
taxed,
past participle, past
-
taxing
present participle
tax-
2
American
tax
British
/ tæks /
noun
-
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
-
a heavy demand on something; strain
a tax on our resources
verb
-
to levy a tax on (persons, companies, etc, or their incomes, etc)
-
to make heavy demands on; strain
to tax one's intellect
-
to accuse, charge, or blame
he was taxed with the crime
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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
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slang to steal
tax
Idioms
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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nontaxnoun
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nontaxernoun
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subtaxernoun
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taxernoun
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taxlessnessnoun
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retaxverb (used with object)
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untaxverb (used with object)
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antitaxadjective
-
protaxadjective
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self-taxedadjective
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taxlessadjective
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undertaxedadjective
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well-taxedadjective
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taxinglyadverb
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taxlesslyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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taxsimple
-
taxessimple
-
have taxedperfect
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has taxedperfect
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am taxingprogressive
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are taxingprogressive
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is taxingprogressive
-
have been taxingperfect progressive
-
has been taxingperfect progressive
Past
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taxedsimple
-
had taxedperfect
-
was taxingprogressive
-
were taxingprogressive
-
had been taxingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of tax
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
Explanation
A charge or fee that a government imposes on a citizen or business is called a tax. Taxes help to pay for the services people (and businesses) receive from the government. There are many different kinds of taxes—on purchases, property, and income, for example—but all tax money is meant to pay for things that benefit people in society. For example, in many places schools, road repairs, fire departments, and health care for elderly and disabled people are all paid for with money from taxes. As a verb, tax can either mean "impose a tax on" or "put a strain or burden on."
Vocabulary lists containing tax
Citizenship (Civics) - Middle School
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Economics
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Ratios and Proportional Relationships
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Panorama investigates the documents that were falsified to hide his wealth and evade tax.
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026
If they are classified as being too sick to work and also claim PIP, that increases to around £2,000, tax free.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026
Hilton and Whetstone’s 2024 tax returns show they had a combined household income of $7.5 million, which included his reported earnings of $250,000 from Fox News and her $6.7 million from her then-employer, Netflix.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2026
Their protests, launched in 2018 over a planned fuel tax rise, saw massive demonstrations and clashes between police and protesters that shook the presidency during Macron's first term in office.
From Barron's ● Oct. 12, 2026
I don’t collect garbage tax or cell phone storage fees from Stephen.
From "Marcus Vega Doesn't Speak Spanish" by Pablo Cartaya
Black socialized with Jeffrey Epstein and turned to him for tax- and estate-planning advice.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 11, 2026
Under threat of having its tax- exempt status revoked, the DAR reversed the decision and, in 1984, granted Ferguson full membership.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 5, 2022
Federal law also allows up to $10,000 annually in tax- and penalty-free withdrawals for elementary, middle and high school tuition, but California does not.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 3, 2022
But when I looked up “the world’s highest tax- payer”, the search returned lots of information on which countries had the highest tax rates.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 6, 2019
Mr. Moss admitted they had received more than $265,000 in tax- free subsidies, plus Social Security checks for some of the children they had adopted.
From "Three Little Words: A Memoir" by Ashley Rhodes-Courter
Higher prices boost revenues from taxes on the sale of goods, services and assets, as well as taxes on profits and incomes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026
"And I said, 'That isn't why they come to you, they come because they want their taxes done properly'."
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026
The payroll-tax rate has been increased before: When the first payroll taxes were collected for Social Security in 1937, the rate was 2%, evenly split between employee and employer.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 9, 2026
State taxes form a "moderate portion" of what consumers pay at the pump, and those reductions have helped reduce prices and national averages, he said.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
“As stated, the township of Manifest has the first rights to the land upon payment of back taxes and the land fee in the amount of one thousand dollars.”
From "Moon Over Manifest" by Clare Vanderpool
All diesel is taxed by its intended use.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
“In that world, nobody asks, ‘How do I earn less so I’m taxed less?’” he notes.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 25, 2026
"Pensioners certainly shouldn't get taxed, they've worked all their lives and they get taxed on their pension," she said, adding: "I work hard, my partner works hard, and then they tax you on child benefit."
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
A small group of men hoards wealth and resources, while the peasant class is heavily taxed, laws brutally enforced.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
His ailments, his frustration, and the mounting intensity of the work taxed his spirits and caused him to feel older than his age.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
This treatment clears space in the bone marrow for the incoming cells, but it can be extremely taxing, particularly for older or medically frail patients.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 7, 2026
Students seek shortcuts precisely at the moment the work starts to get mentally taxing, says Hamsa Bastani, a professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026
The harsh environment of Burning Man — which for some people is part of the appeal — is famously taxing.
From Salon ● Sep. 11, 2026
“Elsinore” captures that journey in all of its glories and taxing challenges.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2026
This time I knew exactly what was out there—a lot of long, taxing miles, steep rocky mountains, hard shelter floors, hot days without showers, unsatisfying meals cooked on a temperamental stove.
From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
