TAX (OF., Fr. from ML. taxa, lasea, taxation, tax, from Lat. tasare, to touch, rate, appraise, estimate), and TAXATION. A tax is a compulsory contribution from private income or wealth to meet the general expenses of govern ment. The purpose of taxation is primarily the securing of revenue, although it may incidentally subserve political, social, or moral ends. The common element in all forms of taxation is the destination of the revenue derived from them—to cover general expenses of government. This char acteristic serves to distinguish from taxes such compulsory payments as fees and special assess ments (q.v.), which are primarily payments to meet costs incurred in affording special public services to the individuals who pay them.
Taxation, while it is to-day by far the most important source of public revenue, is of com paratively recent origin. The medieval State
depended for its revenues largely upon the prod net of the public domain. (See FINANCE.) It was in the cities that taxation first developed. Payment of taxes was generally regarded as pre requisite to citizenship. With the increase in public needs which accompanied the development of the national State, various forms of indirect taxes—tolls, impost duties—were levied: and with the extension of citizenship characteristic of the modern State. the duty of paying taxes has become practically universal. The broaden ing of the functions of the State, noted under FINANCE, has had the effect of making taxation an increasingly important element in economic life. In general, the higher the social and eco nomic development of a nation, the heavier is the burden of taxation 111)011 its citizens.