imputation
(ɪmpjuːˈteɪʃən)
[ad. late L. imputātiōn-em, n. of action from imputāre to impute. Cf. F. imputation (15th c. in Godef. Compl.).]
1. The action of imputing or attributing something, usually a fault, crime, etc., to a person; the fact of being charged with a crime, fault, etc.; (with pl.) an instance of this; accusation, charge.
| 1581 Sidney Apol. Poetrie (Arb.) 51 Nowe then goe wee to the most important imputations laid to the poore Poets. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, v. i. 81, I would humour his men, with the imputation of beeing neere their Mayster. 1611 Bible Transl. Pref. 10 The imputation of Sixtus..that our people had bene fed with gall of Dragons in stead of wine. 1693 Dryden tr. Juvenal Ded. 7 Heaven be prais'd, our common Libellers are as free from the imputation of Wit, as of Morality. 1786 Burke W. Hastings Wks. 1842 II. 202 The imputation of a new violation of faith. 1802–12 Bentham Ration. Evidence Wks. 1843 VII. 16 Individuals, really innocent, have sunk under a load of imputation heaped upon them by fallacious circumstantial evidence. 1871 W. Markby Elem. Law §258 Rashness or heedlessness may be a ground of criminal imputation. |
2. Theol. a. The attributing to believers of the righteousness of Christ, and to Christ of human sin, by vicarious substitution; also, the imputing of the guilt of Adam's sin to all his descendants.
| 1545 Joye Exp. Dan. iii. 45 b, In the remission of synnes and in the imputacion of rightwysnes and lyfe eternall. 1597 Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lvi. §11 We participate Christ partly by imputation, as when those things which he did and suffered for us are imputed unto us for righteousnesse. 1656 Cowley Misc. Pref., No body can be justified by the Imputation even of anothers Merit. 1758 S. Hayward Serm. ix. 270 Of this kind is the imputation of Christ's righteousness, the imputation of our sins to him, and the imputation of Adam's sin to us. 1852 Hook Ch. Dict. (1871) 383 Imputation is the attributing of a character to a person which he does not really possess. |
b. concr.
| 1642 Rogers Naaman 13 Christ was no such large imputation of all grace, as Adam was of sin. |
† 3. Attribution of merit (to oneself); the making a merit of a thing. (So L. imputāre). Obs.
| 1628 Earle Microcosm., Meere Gull (Arb.) 93 A man that will spend his sixe pence with a great deale of imputation, and no man makes more of a pinte of wine then he. |
4. An economic theory of value (see quot. 1965); also (freq. attrib.) a form of taxation levied on company profits, usu. in phr. imputation system, imputation tax. Cf. impute v. 6.
| 1893 C. A. Malloch tr. F. von Wieser's Natural Value iii. ii. 77 So far as this method succeeds in founding, upon the imputation of the return, a valuation of goods and a plan of production..it is the height of practical wisdom. To show that imputation in this sense is both allowable and practicable take one single case. 1931 A. Gray Devel. Econ. Doctrine xii. 354 The most characteristic part of Wieser's contribution to the school lies in his doctrine of Zurechnung, which has been acclimatized in this country as ‘imputation’ or ‘attribution’... In a sense the higher goods have no value until a value is ‘imputed’..to them. 1934 F. A. von Hayek in C. Menger Coll. Works I. p. xv, He answers the problem of imputation..by saying that such quantities of the different factors as can be substituted for each other..must have equal value. 1938 E. Roll Hist. Econ. Thought viii. 388 In the theory of distribution Menger is responsible for posing what is known as the problem of imputation; that is the problem of the value of goods of a higher order. 1965 Seldon & Pennance Everyman's Dict. Econ. 210 Imputation, the process of attributing value to productive resources in accordance with their contribution to the value of their products... The theory of imputation argued that the value of factors (‘higher-order’ goods) was in all cases determined by (imputed from) the value of the final (‘lower-order’) goods to whose production they contributed. 1971 Daily Tel. 17 Nov. 19/2 The Government..preferred to replace it not with the French imputation or tax credit method but with a two-rate system... The imputation system..would mean that all company profits..would be taxed at the rate of 50 p.c. 1972 Accountant 23 Mar. 366/1 The Chancellor..would introduce a new tax based upon the imputation system. Ibid., Under the imputation system, the company will pay tax on its total profits. 1972 S. Marcus Finance Act 1972 i. 2 Under the new 1973 method, known as the ‘imputation system’, all profits (except capital gains) will be taxed at the same rate, whether they are distributed or not. 1973 Daily Tel. 31 Mar. 19/5 Dividend covers..have been adjusted to take into account the new corporation ‘imputation’ tax system. Ibid. 2 Apr. 20 The ‘imputation’ method of taxing company profits..becomes the technical core of investment. |