Strike It Rich!

[JohnH]

This discussion of excise tax vs income tax got me thinking about the origin & other uses of the word. In medicine, to "excise" something means to remove it from the body, such as "to excise a tumor". I guess the analogy fits, since an excise tax is just another excuse for a government to remove money from your wallet.

And then I ran across the best definition of all, going all the way back to 1755 when Samuel Johnson offered this definition in his dictionary:

"EXCI'SE. n.s. ... A hateful tax levied upon commodities, and adjudged not by the common judges of property, but wretches hired by those to whom excise is paid."

[ChEAr$]

State of Georgia in it's vast literature from department of revenue still uses the term "tax execution."
I always get a chuckle out of that one.

[Burke]

I am thinking we had this very same discussion about the very same state about a year ago or more. And I agree with the position that a tax assessed as a percentage of income is an income tax, not an excise tax, no matter what the state may call it. It can do whatever it likes concerning its own state tax laws, but it cannot change the federal tax laws which allow such a tax as an itemized deduction on the federal return. Much the same way a property (real or personal) tax which is assessed on valuation is deductible, rather than a flat amt (which is considered a fee) and is not.