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Glite Dictionary
rates

rates

1 6.9
A tax local councils charge on houses and land to pay for local services
  • noun
  • /reɪts/
  • Archaic
translation icon : impuestos locales
  • Many people were unhappy with the new rates set by the municipality for housing tax.
  • high rates

Examples

  • This table shows you the marginal tax rates faced by these groups.

  • Full Spectrum Lamps at Affordable Rates

    Blog text (27)

  • I gave them an adjustment for $135,000 because they weren't taking the Per Diem Rates reduction for meals.

    Blog text (6)

  • The local council decided to increase the property rates to improve public services.

  • Homeowners must pay their residential rates annually to support local infrastructure.

Synonyms

property tax
vsrates
85 3.2

A tax local governments charge on houses and land based on how much they are worth

is the British local form historically used to fund local public services
council tax
vsrates
  • UK
1 4.1

A tax charged by the local council based on a home's value and the people living there

refers to the earlier British property charge used before the current household based system

Compounds

poor rates
  • Archaic
9.9

A local tax collected to help people with little money

How High

rates
  • Archaic
1 6.9
property tax
85 3.2

Surface Forms

rate singular
rates plural

Morphology

rates = rate (semi-transparent) = rate + s

Formally the plural of 'rate' (transparent morphologically), but the specific British sense 'local property tax' is lexicalized and may not be predictable from the general senses of 'rate'.

Etymology

Rates comes from an old word meaning a 'fixed' or 'calculated' amount, a bit like the idea behind the word ratio. So local councils call the money charged on property 'rates' because it is a set tax people pay to fund local services.