tax

Everyday

1. Money that people and businesses must pay to the government to pay for things like schools, roads, hospitals and police. tree →
2. As a verb, to make people pay tax on something. tree →
3. To tax something can also mean to make it work hard or tire it: "a taxing job". tree →

In the lessons

In everyday life, a sales tax (USA, Canada) or VAT or GST (UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand) is added to many prices. In maths, tax problems ask you to find a percentage of a price and add it on. In history lessons, unfair taxes caused protests, such as the Boston Tea Party. Phrases: pay tax, sales tax, income tax, tax on, tax-free, taxing.

Examples

• Taxes help pay for schools and roads. tree →
• The price was 10 dollars plus tax. tree →
• In Australia, GST is added to most things you buy. tree →
• The government taxes petrol. tree →
• Grown-ups pay income tax on the money they earn. tree →
• Climbing that steep hill was very taxing. tree →
• The colonists were angry about the tax on tea. tree →
• “Have you been for the tax?” said the giant. tree →

Note

Countable: a tax, taxes. In maths, if tax is 10% of 50 dollars, the tax is 5 dollars and the total is 55 dollars. "Taxing" as an adjective means tiring or difficult. Do not confuse "tax" with "taxi". "Tax-free" means no tax is added.

In Jewish tradition

This was the half-shekel tax that Moses laid on Israel for the Tabernacle.

Interpretation. Tradition reads this tax as a way for every person, rich or poor, to take an equal share in God's house.

Examples

• And they made a proclamation through Judah and Jerusalem, to bring in for the LORD the tax that Moses the servant of God laid upon Israel in the wilderness. (Writings 2CH.24.9, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

Countable: a tax, taxes. In maths, if tax is 10% of 50 dollars, the tax is 5 dollars and the total is 55 dollars. "Taxing" as an adjective means tiring or difficult. Do not confuse "tax" with "taxi". "Tax-free" means no tax is added.