sumptuary tax
sumptuary tax noun: a government levy on goods considered to be socially undesirable goods or nonessential luxuries, most commonly alcohol and tobacco.
Noun
sumptuary tax (plural sumptuary taxes)
- A government levy on goods considered to be socially undesirable goods or nonessential luxuries, most commonly alcohol and tobacco.
- The author seems favourable to a tax on dress, when, exceeding the limits of necessity and decency, it luxuriates in finery and ornament. A tax which should fall only on the superfluous embellishments, and costliness, of apparel would be a sumptuary tax, and might form a new source of supply to the...1810, “[review of] What is the Influence of the different Species of Taxation on the Morality, the Activity, and the Industry of Nations? By M. de Monthion, formerly Counsellor of State. Paris”, in...
- Although the influence of a very patriotic sumptuary tax has diminished the number of dogs, we have still “ thousands too many.”1812, Thomas Tusser, Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry, page 125
- Synonyms:
- sin tax
Examples of sumptuary tax in a sentence
- I think it was a purely sumptuary tax intended to hit a luxury. / 14905.1906, “[testimony of] Sir Henry William Primrose, 8 Feb. 1906”, in Parliamentary Papers, House of Commons and Command:
- A sumptuary tax is a tax whose effects are desired on moral or ethical grounds.1982, Florentino G. Ayson, C. O. Resurreccion, The fundamentals of agrarian reform, page 173:
Synonyms of sumptuary tax
Forms of sumptuary tax
| plural | sumptuary taxes |
|---|
Questions about sumptuary tax
- What does sumptuary tax mean?
- Sumptuary tax means a government levy on goods considered to be socially undesirable goods or nonessential luxuries, most commonly alcohol and tobacco.
- How do you use sumptuary tax in a sentence?
- I think it was a purely sumptuary tax intended to hit a luxury. / 14905.
- What part of speech is sumptuary tax?
- Sumptuary tax is a noun.
- What is the plural of sumptuary tax?
- The plural of sumptuary tax is sumptuary taxes.
Words near sumptuary tax in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: sumptuary tax (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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