Tax
From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tax is money that people have to pay to the governments.
In ancient times, people from one city or region would attack people from another place, and make them pay tribute. Tribute meant that the conquered people would pay money (or other things), and the conqueror would stop attacking them. A famous tribute was the Danegeld, when people from Denmark conquered part of England and made the English pay thousands of silver coins.
In a tax, the governments makes the people of a country, state, or city pay money. This money goes to pay people who work for the governments. There are lots of different kinds of taxes. Some taxes are based on how much money you earn. The more you earn, the more you must pay. This is called an income tax. Other taxes are based on how much you buy. This is a sales tax or value added tax (VAT). There are also taxes based on how much you own, called property tax.
In the United States, for instance, the national governments has an income tax; most states have an income tax or a sales tax, or both; and cities and towns may have a sales tax or a property tax.
