税 | 稅

With our understanding of 禾 and 兑, today we are examine the meaning of their combination: 税, whose Traditional Chinese character is 稅, comparing the Traditional Chinese character of 兑 as 兌.

As we know, 兑 contains the original meaning of collecting (something) from the clan then dividing or allocating it among people by the chief of the clan.

China used to be an Agricultural country for tens of centuries, 禾 is the most important living supplies and symbol of wealth of Chinese people. Adding 兑 to 禾, it is to represent the meaning of government of  Chinese dynasty collecting 禾 as Tax from Chinese citizens, which will be used by the government for infrastructure, military, welfare and other expenses.

So 税 | 稅 is to mean Tax. for example 税收.

And Farmers in China also used to borrow farmland / seeds from their landlords in Spring and payback their landlords with certain portion of their harvests in Autumn as interests promised.

税 | 稅 can also be used to mean Interests. 税息.

As usual, to understand the character 税 | 稅 better, let us examine its evolution history:

Evolution history of 税

We can tell that there is no major differences in writing 税 from Bronze script till current modern Regular scripts.

Time to enjoy Chinese calligraphy with 税 inside:

荆树有花兄弟乐；书田无税子孙耕。