(of a government)
to demand a tax from (a person, business, etc.).
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.
to take to task; censure; reprove; accuse.
to tax one with laziness.
Informal. to charge.
What did he tax you for that?
Archaic. to estimate or determine the amount or value of.
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
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
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
slang to steal
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
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."
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"Tax is just one thing to consider but there is general acceptance that if you're living in Scotland then you pay more tax."
From BBC • May 5, 2026
Tran would work to expand programs, such as the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, to incentivize developers to build more affordable units, and to provide direct mortgage relief and down payment assistance to first-time homebuyers.
From Los Angeles Times • May 1, 2026
Texas, Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina were the top four states gaining income-tax filers from 2022 to 2023, according to an analysis from the Tax Foundation.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 27, 2026
The doctrine “is relevant to attempts by taxpayers to mechanically utilize the provisions of the Tax Code to obtain a benefit not intended by Congress,” wrote Judge Michael Murphy.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 22, 2026
The trainer, Tax, seeing that the standing targets offer no challenge for me, begins to launch these silly fake birds high into the air for me to hit.
From "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins
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.
