A farmer of taxes is, of all creditors,
proverbially the most rapacious. --Macaulay.
(b) Especially, the sum laid upon specific things, as upon
polls, lands, houses, income, etc.; as, a land tax; a
window tax; a tax on carriages, and the like.
Note: Taxes are {annual} or {perpetual}, {direct} or
{indirect}, etc.
(c) A sum imposed or levied upon the members of a society
to defray its expenses.
2. A task exacted from one who is under control; a
contribution or service, the rendering of which is imposed
upon a subject.
3. A disagreeable or burdensome duty or charge; as, a heavy
tax on time or health.
4. Charge; censure. [Obs.] --Clarendon.
5. A lesson to be learned; a task. [Obs.] --Johnson.
{Tax cart}, a spring cart subject to a low tax. [Eng.]
Syn: Impost; tribute; contribution; duty; toll; rate;
assessment; exaction; custom; demand.
We are more heavily taxed by our idleness, pride,
and folly than we are taxed by government.
--Franklin.
2. (Law) To assess, fix, or determine judicially, the amount
of; as, to tax the cost of an action in court.
3. To charge; to accuse; also, to censure; -- often followed
by with, rarely by of before an indirect object; as, to
tax a man with pride.
I tax you, you elements, with unkindness. --Shak.
Men's virtues I have commended as freely as I have
taxed their crimes. --Dryden.
Fear not now that men should tax thine honor. --M.
Arnold.