value-added tax

noun
1.
an excise tax based on the value added to a product at each stage of production or distribution: value added is arrived at by subtracting from the total value of the product at the end of each production or distibution stage the value of the goods bought at its inception.
Abbreviation: VAT.
Also called added-value tax.
Origin
1930-35
Examples from the web for value-added tax
  • Despite the fillip from the temporary reduction in value-added tax, consumer spending will fall sharply.
  • Its successor has slashed the budget deficit, partly by increasing value-added tax by three points.
  • It also cut social-security contributions, partly making up the shortfall with higher value-added tax.
  • One other option would be a national value-added tax on goods.
  • He wants a value-added tax, which would be applied to economic transactions from the wholesale to the retail level.
British Dictionary definitions for value-added tax

value-added tax

noun
1.
(in Britain) the full name for VAT
value-added tax in Culture
value-added tax (VAT)

A tax on the value added to a product at each stage of its production, from raw materials to finished product. Widely employed in Europe, value-added taxes have the advantage (for governments) of raising revenue “invisibly,” that is, without appearing as taxes on the bill paid by the consumer.