exaction
/ɪɡˈzakʃ(ə)n
/ /ɛɡˈzakʃ(ə)n/noun [mass noun] formal
1The action of demanding and obtaining something from someone, especially a payment: he supervised the exaction of tolls at various ports...
- His armpits start smelling of meat; he becomes an urban caveman, forever subjecting Russia to ‘the detailed exaction of his connubial rights’.
- However, the abuses that most affect ordinary Burmese-the expropriation of land, the conscription of labor, the arbitrary exaction of goods and funds, and the disastrously failing economy-are the products of state failure.
- Norman ducal revenues were insufficient to meet even the cost of garrisoning its defences and so, to fund Richard's seemingly never-ending wars against Philip, England was subjected to unprecedented levels of financial exaction.
1.1 [count noun] A sum of money exacted from someone: the billions flow in through 28 taxes and countless smaller exactions...
- Apart from demanding an increase in wages, they demanded that the military stop collecting illegal exactions from the truck drivers at the gates.
- On his estate, rents were collected, a grace period given if needed, but no other exactions were demanded.
- Rising tax exactions invariably dampened the spirits of charity.
Origin
Late Middle English: from Latin exactio(n-), from exigere 'ascertain, perfect, enforce' (see exact).