ˈincome-tax
[income n.1 6.]
A tax levied in some countries on incomes. Also attrib.
In Great Britain first introduced as a war-tax in 1799; reintroduced in 1842, and maintained since. Assessed at a rate annually fixed by Parliament of so many pence per pound (e.g. a sixpenny or eightpenny income-tax), with exemptions or deductions for incomes below certain defined amounts.
| 1799 H. Beeke (title) Observations on the Produce of the Income Tax, and its proportion to the whole Income of Great Britain. 1803 Pitt in G. Rose's Diaries (1860) II. 17 He puts the income tax at 4,500,000l. 1819 Byron Juan i. clxxxiii, The only mischief was, it came too late; Of all experience 'tis the usual price, A sort of income-tax laid on by fate. 1844 A. W. Kinglake Eothen viii. 111 The fear that my party might be a company of Income-tax commissioners. 1844 Punch VII. 206 Infernal things. The Income-Tax papers. 1846 McCulloch Acc. Brit. Empire (1854) II. 401 The existing income-tax..certainly is a tax that should not be retained a moment after it can be dispensed with. 1862 Trollope Small House at Allington (1864) I. iv. 36 Mrs. Cradell..who had also succeeded in getting her son into the Income-tax Office, had placed him in charge of Mrs. Roper. 1873 H. Spencer Stud. Sociol. i. (1875) 16 An increased income-tax obliges you to abridge your autumn holiday. 1878 [see income n.1 6 a]. 1879 Geo. Eliot Let. 23 July (1956) VII. 185, I have filled up one income-taxpaper for this district. 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXXIII. 194/2 An Income Tax Code. 1909 Westm. Gaz. 24 Sept. 5/3 Returns may be demanded in every income-tax district in which a person may reside. 1916 Act 6 & 7 Geo. V c. 24 §37 Income tax relief on war insurance premiums. 1920 A. E. Housman Let. 3 Sept. (1971) 178 The additional trouble in filling up my Income Tax return. 1927 Bowley & Stamp Nat. Income 1924 17 ‘Income-Tax’ income exceeds ordinary income under certain heads, since it includes inter alia various losses which do not come out in the assessment. 1941 Time 1 Dec. 84/2 Now appealing a three-year sentence for income-tax evasion. 1950 T. S. Eliot Cocktail Party ii. 105 I'd like to see you filling up an income-tax form. 1959 Listener 2 July 23/2 These customers are known in agriculture as ‘income-tax farmers’. 1966 Ibid. 5 May 663/1 A composer worth his salt should be able to set..an income-tax demand to viable music. |