tax

tax — noun

1. a required payment to a local or national government, usually calculated as a pe

1.nounB1
Definition

a required payment to a local or national government, usually calculated as a percentage of a person's earnings, a company's profits, or the price of goods and services bought, which funds the operation of schools, roads, hospitals, and other shared public needs.

Example

Every employee in Brazil must pay income tax on their monthly salary.

collocation: pay + income tax

The government raised the tax on imported electronics to protect local factories.

collocation: tax on [product]

Common collocations
  • pay tax
  • raise taxes
  • cut taxes
  • income tax
  • sales tax
  • property tax
  • tax on [sth]
  • tax return
  • tax rate
  • tax revenue
Synonyms
  • levy

    formal term for a tax that is collected, especially by an authority; less common in everyday speech.

  • duty

    a tax paid on goods imported or exported from a country; narrower scope.

  • tariff

    a tax on goods coming into a country from abroad; specifically trade-related.

Grammar Patterns

tax + on + [product/income]

pay + tax + on + [noun]

income tax / sales tax / property tax

Usage Note

Often used in compounds (income tax, sales tax, property tax). The preposition on introduces what is being taxed: tax on fuel, tax on luxury goods.

Common Mistakes

I paid tax of the car.
I paid tax on the car.
use on to indicate what the tax applies to.
Taxes are very height in my country.
Taxes are very high in my country.
tax rates are high/low, not tall/short.

2. a situation or activity that demands a great amount of a person's energy, patien

2.nounC1
Definition

a situation or activity that demands a great amount of a person's energy, patience, or other personal resource, as if it were a cost they must pay.

Example

The long commute was a heavy tax on Emre's energy every single day.

pattern: a tax on [abstract noun]

Caring for her sick mother placed a real tax on Gabriela's patience and strength.

Common collocations
  • a tax on patience
  • a tax on energy
  • a tax on health
  • a tax on resources
  • a tax on the system
  • heavy tax
  • real tax
  • huge tax
Synonyms
  • burden

    a heavy load or duty that is hard to bear; more general than tax and used in both literal and figurative contexts.

  • strain

    pressure or worry caused by a difficult situation; emphasises mental or physical tension.

  • demand

    something that requires time, effort, or attention; neutral in tone.

Antonyms
  • relief

    the removal or reduction of a burden or demand.

Grammar Patterns

a tax on + [abstract noun]

Usage Note

Always used as a singular noun in a tax on [something] structure. Metaphorical extension of sense 1; the subject is typically a demanding challenge, situation, or task.

Common Mistakes

This job is a tax.
This job is a tax on my patience.
the structure a tax on + [abstract noun] is required to clarify the kind of demand.

tax — verb

tax — combining form

Word family

  • taxation
    nounB2
  • taxable
    adjectiveB2
  • taxing
    adjectiveC1
  • taxpayer
    nounB2
  • taxman
    nounC1
  • overtax
    verbC2
  • undertaxed
    adjectiveC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All five words refer to money paid to an authority, but they differ in scope and usage. Tax is the broadest term, covering any compulsory payment to government based on income, profits, or purchases — the word a learner needs for everyday situations. Levy is more formal and refers to the act of imposing a tax or the tax itself, often used for a one-time or specific collection (a levy on bank transactions). Duty specifically applies to taxes on imported or exported goods (customs duty on wine), while tariff is a narrower subset of duties aimed at regulating trade between countries (a tariff on foreign steel). Fee differs from all of the above because it is a payment for a specific service (a visa fee, a parking fee) rather than a general government charge. In everyday contexts, use tax for income or sales charges; use duty or tariff when discussing international trade; use levy for formal announcements of new impositions.

tax ↗levy ↗duty ↗tariff ↗fee ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • tax burden
  • tax break
  • tax cut
  • tax evasion
  • tax avoidance
  • tax loophole
  • tax year
  • tax refund

Prepositions

  • on
  • at
  • before (deadline)
  • against (costs)

Etymology

LatinAnglo-NormanEnglish

The money-related meanings of tax come from Latin taxare, meaning 'to assess, estimate, or censure,' from tangere 'to touch.' The sense of charging a payment emerged in medieval times. Meanwhile, the combining form tax- (as in taxonomy) comes from a separate Greek root, taxis, meaning 'arrangement' or 'order,' from tassein 'to arrange.' These two roots — Latin taxare and Greek tassein — converged in English but have always referred to different concepts. The unrelated origins explain why a tax collector and taxonomy share a syllable but not a meaning.