Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US, esp. New England) to set a price on, to charge.

1848		Bartlett Dict. Americanisms 351: To Tax, to charge; as, ‘What will you tax me a yard for this cloth?’ [DA].
1905		‘Central Connecticut Word-List’ in DN III:i 22: tax, v. To charge. ‘What will you tax me for this horse?’.

2. to extort, to demand money with menaces; thus taxing n.

1991		Lord Finesse ‘Return of the Funky Man’ 🎵 on Return of the Funky Man [album] I’m real and actual, the man out taxing you / [...] / To the opposition: I’m the man out burning ya / I dust a rapper off like furnature / So take our stand, I foil your plan / Goddamn, it’s the Return of the Funky Man.
1994		P. Baker Blood Posse 61: I got to tax this free-riding sucker. They got to pay some dues.
2004		(con. 1970s) N. ‘Razor’ Smith A Few Kind Words and a Loaded Gun 198: I singled out a couple of the weaker kids and demanded a percentage of their wages every week. I’m not going to try to justify my actions by telling you that ‘taxing’ was the norm, but it was.
2010		(con. 1973) C. Stella Johnny Porno 208: You could tax the guy for protection money .
2021		Breen & Conlon Hitmen 16: ‘Taxing’ dealers had long been a significant source of income for the Provisional IRA.

3. to rob; to steal.

1988		Ice-T ‘High Rollers’ 🎵 Gangsters to the max, all marks will be taxed.
1999		(con. 1979–80) A. Wheatle Brixton Rock (2004) 91: A young woman sank to her knees, cursing. [...] someone had just taxed her handbag.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 185/1: tax v. = to steal.
2005		(con. 1960s) Guardian Weekend 2 Apr. 24: I wore it for maybe five years, until it was ‘taxed’ off my back by a bunch of Liverpool supporters.
2012		(con. 1980s) I. Welsh Skagboys 111: Buzzed at having taxed the bourgeois cheat oot ay his vintage wares.
2016		A. Wheatle Crongton Knights 158: ‘You’re freaking lucky you’re just getting taxed tonight’.

4. (drugs) to levy a charge to enter a building where crack cocaine is sold; the charge is based either on the race of the customer (whites pay more) or on the frequency of their custom; usu. as taxing n.

1992		T. Williams Crackhouse 102: When somebody enters your house [...] and they want to smoke, they give the host a piece of crack. That’s called taxing. That’s a house fee.
2001		ONDCP Street Terms 21: Taxing — Price paid to enter a crackhouse; charging more per vial depending on race of customer or if not a regular customer.
2014		Young Jeezy ‘Quarter Block’ 🎵 Old niggas taxing didn’t stop shit, cuz a young nigga got mo’ cheddar.