means A compulsory charge levied by a government on income, goods, activities, or property to fund public spending.

from From Latin 'taxare,' to assess, appraise, or handle — itself a frequentative of 'tangere,' to touch (the same root that gives us 'tactile' and 'tangent'). The word came into English through Old French 'taxer' around the 14th century. So a tax is, quite literally, the state reaching out to touch your purse and 'assess' what's inside — a fitting genealogy. The related word 'task' shares the same Latin parent, which says something about how both feel.