Cess

For the hamlet in Norfolk, England, see Cess, Norfolk.

The term cess (a shortened form of "assess"; the spelling is due to a mistaken connection with census) generally means a tax. It is a term formerly more particularly applied to local taxation, and was the official term used in Ireland when it was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; otherwise, it has been superseded by "rate". In colonial India it was applied, with a qualifying prefix, to any taxation, such as irrigation-cess, educational-cess, and the like.^[1] Collectively referred to as cesses in government censuses e.g. "land revenue and cesses".^[2] In Scotland, it refers to the property tax which was enacted in Scotland in 1665 and continued to be levied through the 18th century.

References

1. ^ CESS - Encyclopaedia Britannica
2. ^ Abbottābād Tahsīl - Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 5, p. 1

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.