tax
A charge (of money, food, labor, etc) collected by a person, organization, etc; something required (exacted) from someone who is (really or notionally) under the control of the taxer, such as a contribution or service.
Other meanings
A burdensome demand
“a heavy tax on time or health”
Word history
From Medieval Latin "taxa".
Where this comes from
This definition is adapted from “tax” on Wiktionary, by its contributors, published under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page is published under the same licence.