BBB Etymology - Tax

As a verb, circa 1290, from Old French taxer "impose a tax", from Latin taxare "evaluate, estimate, assess, handle," also "censure, charge," probably a frequentative form of tangere "to touch". Sense of "burden, put a strain on" first recorded 1672; that of "censure, reprove" is from 1569. The noun is recorded from 1327.