EXCISE TAX Definition

EXCISE TAX is a tax imposed by federal, state, and local governments on an act, occupation, privilege, manufacture, sale, or consumption that is not deductible (e.g., tobacco, gasoline and spirits). This term is in increasing usage to describe almost every tax other than income tax and property tax.

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DEPRECIATION is the amount of expense charged against earnings by a company to write off the cost of a plant or machine over its useful live, giving consideration to wear and tear, obsolescence, and salvage value. If the expense is assumed to be incurred in equal amounts in each business period over the life of the asset, the depreciation method used is straight line (SL). If the expense is assumed to be incurred in decreasing amounts in each business period over the life of the asset, the method used is said to be accelerated. Two commonly used variations of the accelerated method of depreciating an asset are the sum-of-years digits (SYD) and the double-declining balance (DDB) methods. Frequently, accelerated depreciation is chosen for a business tax expense but straight line is chosen for its financial reporting purposes.

HYPOTHECATION, in securities, is the pledging of securities to brokers as collateral for loans made to cover short sales or purchase securities. In banking, it is the pledging of property to secure a loan.

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