To tax (from the Latin taxo; "I estimate") is to impose a financial charge or other levy upon a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a state or the functional equivalent of a state such that failure to pay is punishable by law. Taxes are also imposed by many administrative divisions. Taxes consist of direct tax or indirect tax, and may be paid in money or as its labour equivalent (often but not always unpaid labour).
A tax is a "pecuniary burden laid upon individuals or property owners to support the government a payment exacted by legislative authority." A tax "is not a voluntary payment or donation, but an enforced contribution, exacted pursuant to legislative authority" and is "any contribution imposed by government whether under the name of toll, tribute, tallage, gabel, impost, duty, custom, excise, subsidy, aid, supply, or other name."
Read more about Tax: Overview, Purposes and Effects, Kinds of Taxes, History, Economic Effects
Other articles related to "tax":
... on the public road are required to display a non-transferable vehicle licence ("tax disc") ... the same manner as failure to pay duty and display a tax disc when using the vehicle on public roads ... If you have paid for vehicle tax by phone or online before the current disc runs out, then you can legally drive or keep your vehicle on the road whilst displaying ...
... The terms "car tax", "road tax" and "vehicle tax" are commonly, but incorrectly, used when referring to "Vehicle Excise Duty" ... Road tax has an entry in the Oxford English Dictionary ... cyclists, cycling organisations and cycling publications object to use of the term 'road tax' since roads are paid for from general taxation, arguing that there is no such thing as a "road ...
... Varlık Vergisi ("Wealth tax" or "Capital tax") was a Turkish tax levied on the wealthy citizens of Turkey in 1942, with the stated aim of raising funds for ... The bill for the one-off tax was proposed by the Şükrü Saracoğlu government, and the act was adopted by the Turkish parliament on November 11, 1942 ... Officially, the tax was devised to fill the state treasury that would have been needed had Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union invaded the country ...
... Main article Optimal tax Most governments take revenue which exceeds that which can be provided by non-distortionary taxes or through taxes which give a double dividend ... and demand for a good, it follows that putting the highest tax rates on the goods for which there is most inelastic supply and demand will result in the least overall ... from income, then the optimum distribution of income for society involves a progressive income tax ...
... Although Toledo originally promised tax cuts, violent protests by civil servants prompted the increase in social sector spending that Toledo had also promised, which necessitated tax increases ... To tackle tax reform in June 2003, he brought in Peru’s first female prime minister, Beatriz Merino who quickly submitted proposals to the congress ... for Toledo himself, a 5% across-the-board cut for all agencies and ministries, tax increases on beer, cigarettes and fuel, and an extension of the 18% sales ...
Famous quotes containing the word tax:
“I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief.”
—Wendell Berry (b. 1934)
“Parents are used to being made to feel guilty about...their contribution to the population problem, the school tax burden, and declining test scores. They expect to be blamed by teachers and psychologists, if not by police. And they will be blamed by the children themselves. It is hardy a wonder, then, that they withdraw into what used to be called “permissiveness” but is really neglect.”
—C. John Sommerville (20th century)
“...many tax collectors and sinners were also sitting with Jesus.”
—Bible: New Testament, Mark 2:15.