Blacks Law Dict. 1st ed

1153

TAVEBN-KEEPEB

TAX

TAVERN-KEEPER. One who keeps a tavern. One who keeps an inn; an inn keeper. TAVERNER. In old English law. A seller of wine; one who kept a house or shop for the sale of wine. TAX, v. To impose a tax; to enact or de clare that a pecuniary contribution shall be made by the persons liable, for the support of government. Spoken of an individual, to be taxed is to be included in an assessment made for purposes of taxation. In practice. To assess or determine; to liquidate, adjust, or settle. Spoken particu larly of taxing costs, (q. v.) Taxes are a ratable portion of the produce of the property and labor of the individual citizens, taken by the nation, in the exercise of its sovereign rights, for the support of government, for the administra tion of the laws, and as the means for con tinning in operation the various legitimate functions of the state. Black, Tax Titles, §2. Taxes are the enforced proportional contri bution of persons and property, levied by the authority of the state for the support of the government, and for all public needs; por tions of the property of the citizen, demand ed and received by the government, to be dis posed of to enable it to discharge its func tions. 58 Me. 590. In a general sense, a tax is any contribu tion imposed by government upon individu als, for the use and service of the state, wheth er under the name of toll, tribute, tallage, gabel, impost, duty, custom, excise, subsidy, aid, supply, or other name. Story, Const. §950. By the concurrent opinion of lawyers, judges, lexicographers, and political economists, as well as by the general and popular understanding, taxes are burdens or charges imposed by the legislature upon persons or property to raise money for public purposes, or to accomplish some governmental end. 27 Iowa, 28. A tax is a pecuniary burden, imposed for the sup port of government. 17 WalL 822. Taxes are classified as direct, which includes those which are assessed upon the property, person, business, income, etc., ol those who pay them; and indirect, or those which are levied on commodities before they reach the consumer, and are paid by those upon whom they ultimately fall, not as taxes, but as part of the market price of the commodity. Cooley, Tax'n, 6. AM. DIOT. LAW—73 TAX, n.

Synonyms. In a broad sense, taxes un doubtedly include assessments, and the right to impose assessments has its foundation in the taxing power of the government; and yet, in practice and as generally understood, there is a broad distinction between the two terms. "Taxes," as the term is generally used, are public burdens imposed generally upon the inhabitants of the whole state, or upon some civil division thereof, for govern mental purposes, without reference to pecul iar benefits to particular individuals or prop erty. "Assessments" have reference to impo sitions for improvements which are specially beneficial to particular individuals or prop erty, and which are imposed in proportion to the particular benefits supposed to be con ferred. They are justified only because the improvements confer special benefits, and are just only when they are divided in proportion to such benefits. 84 N. Y. 112. A charge imposed by law upon the assessed value of all property, real and personal, in a district, is a tax, and not an assessment, although the purpose be to mage a local improvement on a road. 46 CaL 553. Taxes differ from subsidies, in being cer tain and orderly, and from forced contribu tions, etc., in that they are levied by author ity of law, and by some rule of proportion which is intended to insure uniformity of con tribution, and a just apportionment of the burdens of government. Cooley, Tax'n, 2. The words "tax" and "excise," although often used as synonymous, are to be consid ered as having entirely distinct and separate significations. The former is a charge appor tioned either among the whole people of the state, or those residing within certain districts, municipalities, or sections. It is required to be imposed, as we shall more fully explain hereafter, so that, if levied for the public charges of government, it shall be shared ac cording to the estate, real and personal, which each person may possess; or, if raised to de fray the cost of some local improvement of a public nature, it shall be borne by those who will receive some special and peculiar benefit or advantage which an expenditure of money for a public object may cause to those on whom the tax is assessed. An excise, on the other hand, is of a different character. It is based on no rule of apportionment or equality whatever. It is a fixed, absolute, and direct charge laid on merchandise, products, or commodities, without any regard to the amount of property belonging to those on whom it may fall, or to any supposed relation between money expended for a public object

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