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Glite Dictionary
ad valorem

ad valorem

1 8.6
Calculated from an item's value, usually for taxes
  • adjective
  • /æd vəˈloʊrəm/
  • Formal
translation icon : ad valorem
  • Tariffs on Mexican imports of these products are the highest agricultural tariffs in the US, approaching 20% ad valorem, even though in some cases they are restricted to specific competing seasons.
  • ad valorem tax
  • ad valorem taxes

Examples

  • So we're going to allow for a tax on good X, which is an ad valorem sales tax.

  • Section 9 required that all municipal taxes be uniform and ad valorem. Id. § 9.

    Academic text (2017)

  • Do you know what an ad valorem tax is?

    Blog text (27)

  • The 12+ lawyers who blog there are discussing topics such as impact fees, ad valorem.

    Blog text (5)

  • BTW, private property absolutely owned is constitutionally protected, whereas estate ownership is not and is subject to ad valorem taxes.

    Blog text (9)

  • Ms. Ceccotti also dissented from a proposal to adjust the priority of ad valorem taxes.

    Academic text (2017)

  • There is no dispute about the need to transform all nontariff barriers into explicit ad valorem tariffs as soon as possible.

    Academic text (1994)

  • It's fundamentally unfair because two homeowners with homes of equal value right next door to one another can pay wildly disparate rates of ad valorem tax.

    Blog text (8)

  • (1) Tariffs were reduced to a maximum of twenty percent ad valorem, well below the fifty percent maximum of Mexico's GATT accession agreement.

    Academic text (1991)

  • An ad valorem tax is calculated based on the value of the property being taxed.

Antonyms

fixed charge
  • Specialized
3.7

A regular payment that does not change when business changes, like rent or insurance

Surface Forms

ad valorem positive

Morphology

ad + valorem

The phrase is compositionally built from Latin elements 'ad' (to/according to) and 'valorem' (value), so a learner who recognizes these constituents or the Latin root 'valor-' can infer 'according to value'. However, it is a formal/technical Latin loan used in legal/tax contexts rather than a product of regular English composition, so an average B1 learner (even if they know the words only as isolated roots) may not reliably predict its precise usage and register without exposure.

Etymology

Ad valorem comes from old Latin words: ad meaning 'to' or 'according to' and valorem meaning 'value'. So the term was used for taxes 'according to value' and today ad valorem describes a charge or tax that is based on an item's price, not a fixed amount.