A tax is a compulsory, unrequited payment to the state: compulsory because the law demands it; unrequited because no specific service is returned to the particular payer. The state collects it under statutory power and spends it for public purposes. Taxation's objectives:
1. Revenue — funding public goods (defence, courts, roads) the market will not provide.
2. Redistribution — narrowing economic inequality.
3. Regulation — discouraging harmful consumption (tobacco, alcohol excises).
4. Representation — historically, the link between paying tax and governing (no taxation without representation).