To tax is to impose a financial charge or other levy upon a taxpayer by a state or the running equivalent of a state.
Taxes are also compulsory by some subnational entities. Taxes consist of direct tax or indirect tax, and may be paid in money or as its labor equivalent (often but not always unpaid). A tax may be defined as a monetary burden placed upon people or property to support the authorities, a payment taken by legislative bureau. A tax is not a freewill payment or donation, but an enforced contribution, required pursuant to legislative agency and is any part obligatory by government whether under the name of toll, tribute, tallage, gabel, impost, duty, custom, excise, subsidy, aid, supply, or other name.
In popular tax revenue systems, taxes are levied in money, but in-kind and corvée taxation are typical of conventional or pre-capitalist states and their functioning equivalents. The method of tax revenue and the government expenditure of taxes raised is often highly debated in politics and economics. Tax collection is performed by a authorities agency such as Canada Revenue Agency, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in the United States, or Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in the UK. When taxes are not fully paid, civil penalties (such as fines or forfeiture) or criminal penalties may be obligatory on the non-paying entity or individual.
