Tax

==Overview==
[[File:Total-tax-revenues-gdp.png|thumb|upright=2|Total revenue from direct and indirect taxes given as share of GDP in 2017<ref>{{cite web |title=Total tax revenues |url=https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/total-tax-revenues-gdp?tab=map |access-date=7 March 2020 |website=Our World in Data}}</ref>|left]]
Legal and economic definitions of taxes differ, such that many transfers to governments are not considered taxes by economists. For example, some transfers to the public sector are comparable to prices. Examples include tuition at public universities and fees for utilities provided by local governments. Governments also obtain resources by "creating" money and coins (for example, by printing bills and by minting coins), through voluntary gifts (for example, contributions to public universities and museums), by imposing penalties (such as [[Traffic ticket|traffic fines]]), by borrowing and confiscating [[Crime|criminal]] proceeds. From the view of economists, a tax is a non-penal, yet compulsory transfer of resources from the private to the [[public sector]], levied on a basis of predetermined criteria and without reference to specific benefits received.

In modern taxation systems, governments levy taxes in money; but [[In kind|in-kind]] and ''[[corvée]]'' taxation are characteristic of traditional or pre-[[capitalism|capitalist]] states and their functional equivalents. The method of taxation and the government expenditure of taxes raised is often highly debated in [[politics]] and [[economics]]. Tax collection is performed by a government agency such as the [[Internal Revenue Service]] (IRS) in the [[United States]], [[HM Revenue and Customs|His Majesty's Revenue and Customs]] (HMRC) in the [[United Kingdom]], the [[Canada Revenue Agency]] or the [[Australian Taxation Office]]. When taxes are not fully paid, the state may impose civil penalties (such as [[Fine (penalty)|fines]] or [[Asset forfeiture|forfeiture]]) or criminal penalties (such as [[incarceration]]) on the non-paying entity or individual.<ref>See for example {{usc|26|7203}} in the case of U.S. Federal taxes.</ref>