direct tax
Preserved but no longer current.
One collected directly from the owner of property subject to the tax, as the income-tax. Indirect taxes are taxes upon marketable commodities, such as tea and sugar the tax on which is added to the article, and is* thus paid by the purchaser indirectly.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “direct tax” mean?
One collected directly from the owner of property subject to the tax, as the income-tax. Indirect taxes are taxes upon marketable commodities, such as tea and sugar the tax on which is added to the article, and is* thus paid by the purchaser indirectly.
Is “direct tax” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.