a. (sb.) [a. AF. taxable (13th c. in Godef.), f. taxer to tax + -ABLE.]
† 1. Liable to be assessed (to a tax, impost, or charge); assessable. Obs.
1474. Rolls of Parlt., VI. 115/2. Which to the Dismes with the Possessions of the Clergie be not taxed nor taxable.
1551. in W. H. Turner, Select. Rec. Oxford (O.H.S.), 207. The same to be taxable … to suche taxe and tallenge as shall be uppon hym taxed and sessyd.
1569. Abp. Parker, Lett. to Sir W. Cecil, 18 May. Benefices of xxx li. and upward taxable to the provision of armour.
2. Liable to be taxed; subject to a tax or duty.
In quot. 1685, liable to the taille in France, from which nobles were exempt.
1583. Golding, Calvin on Deut. xcv. 587. Whereas there are some persons which are still taxable (as they terme it) … whether it be in their goods or in their persons.
1647. Virginia Stat. (1823), I. 341. A just and exact list of all taxable goods, land and tithable persons.
1683. Apol. Prot. France, iii. 2. They ruine all the Protestants that are Taxable in France.
1685. Cotton, trans. Montaigne (1711), I. xv. 68. Both himself and his Posterity [were] declared ignoble, taxable, and for ever incapable of bearing arms.
1762. trans. Busching’s Syst. Geog., VI. 319. This structure is reckoned a taxable house.
1817–8. Cobbett, Resid. U.S. (1822), 84. To learn … the taxable capacities of their farms.
1870. Sat. Rev., 2 April, 432. The consumers of taxable commodities had no reason to complain of Mr. Lowe’s Budget.
1908. Daily Chron., 11 Jan., 4/3. He forgot that if taxation has increased, so also has what the politicians call ‘taxable capacity.’
† 3. Liable to a charge or accusation; chargeable (with some fault); censurable, blamable, reprehensible. Obs.
1610. Healey, St. Augustine’s Citie of God. To affect soueraignty … is taxable of indecency.
1617. Hieron, Wks., II. 402. Men … worthily taxeable with this doctrine.
1654. H. L’Estrange, Chas. I. (1655), 266. Not taxable with any vice.
1690. Norris, Beatitudes (1692), 10. Taxable for a too earthly and downward disposition of soul.
1792. W. Roberts, Looker-on, No. 2 (1794), I. 20. The Old Bachelar was thought too taxable a shape to appear in.
4. Law. Or legal costs or fees: Liable to be taxed or reduced by the taxing-master.
1828–32. Webster, Taxable … 2. That may be legally charged by a court against the plaintif or defendant in a suit; as, taxable costs.
1885. Law Times, 14 Feb., 286/2. The fees of a manor steward as such, though a solicitor, are not taxable.
B. sb. One who or that which is subject to taxation; esp. in pl. persons or things liable to a tax. Orig. U. S.
1662. in Mag. Amer. Hist., Jan. (1884), 39. (Act of Assembly, Maryland) That every householder and freeman … should take up ten shillings per poll … for every taxable under their charge and custody.
1701. Maryland Laws, v. (1723), 17. To levy such Tax by the Poll on the Taxables of such Parishes.
1825. Jefferson, Autobiog., Wks. 1859, I. 32. He … was for their voting … according to the number of taxables.
1861. J. G. Sheppard, Fall Rome, x. 565. Thus, the population was divided in the language into horsemen and taxables.
Hence Taxability, Taxableness, the quality or condition of being taxable; liability to taxation; Taxably adv., in a taxable manner; in quot. 1906, in relation to taxability.
1804. W. Taylor, in Ann. Rev., II. 351. When one considers the easy taxability of the rent derived from all this shipping, and of that yielded by our lands, houses, [and] machines.
1847. Webster, Taxableness, Taxably.
1865. Merivale, Rom. Emp., VIII. lxvii. 289. The citizenship with its attendant taxability was bestowed on many.
1906. Contemp. Rev., Jan., 94. Its Lowland-Scots virtues of thrift and adhesiveness, which made the province taxably so capable.
