taxes

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of tax.

   The new budget raised taxes on fuel and tobacco.

   Local governments rely on property taxes to fund schools.

   Note

   Because tax can be countable as well as uncountable, the plural is used when separate charges are counted or contrasted: fuel and tobacco taxes, property taxes, income taxes. The figurative sense of a burdensome demand stays uncountable, so a heavy tax on someone's patience does not normally become taxes. The same spelling also serves the plural of taxis, which comes from a different word entirely.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of tax.

   The city taxes property based on its assessed value.

   Constant travel taxes her patience and her health.

   Note

   Every sense of the verb is transitive, so this form always takes an object: the city taxes property, the journey taxes her strength. That object is what tells it apart from the plural noun with the same spelling. In "City taxes rise", taxes is the noun. In "City taxes landlords", it is the verb, because something follows for it to act on.

3. 3
   SayTAK-seezUS/ˈtæksiz/UK/ˈtæksiːz/

   noun

   Plural of taxis.

   Researchers compared the taxes displayed by several single-celled species.

   Light and chemical gradients triggered distinct taxes in the bacteria.

   Note

   Here the singular is taxis, a word unrelated to tax. Its plural follows the Greek-derived pattern of analysis and analyses, where -is becomes -es. In biology it names directed movements, so researchers speak of the taxes an organism shows toward light or a chemical gradient. Only context separates it from the plural of tax.

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