Learn English – “Tax on” vs. “tax over”

prepositions

Does one pay tax on income or pay tax over income?

I come across both regularly. On seems to be preferred usage, but I'd like to know which is most correct or formal and why.

Best Answer

I do not recognise "tax over income" and would not use it.

As you point out, a Google search gives some results for "tax over income". But:

  • BNC (the British national corpus) has none (it has 10 for "tax on income");

  • COCA (the Corpus of Contemporary American English) has none (it has 9 for "tax on income");

  • Google ngrams on "tax on income, tax over income" says "Ngrams not found: tax over income"

This strongly suggests that native English speakers do not say "tax over income". And indeed, if you look at the first few hits for your Google search:

  • the first two are your question
  • The next is a podcast of the BBC's Burmese service
  • The next is about Vietnam
  • The next is a forum member with an apparently Dutch name, writing about Italy.

Is that enough evidence?

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