Law Dictionary – Alternative Legal Definition
(verb) – To raise; execute; exact; collect; gather; take up; seize. Thus, to levy (raise or collect) a tax; to levy (raise or set up) a nuisance; to levy (acknowledge) a fine; to. levy (inaugurate) war; to levy an execution, i.e., to levy or collect a sum of money on an execution. In reference to taxation, the word “levy” is used in two different senses. In the first place, and more properly, it means to lay or Impose a tax. This is a legislative function, and includes a determination that a tax shall be imposed, and also the ascertainment of the amount necessary or desirable to be raised, the amount or rate to be imposed, and the subjects or persons to contribute to the tax. The obligation resulting from a “levy” in this sense falls upon the collective body of taxpayers or the community, not (as yet) upon individuala But in another sense, it means the imposition of the tax directly upon the person or property involved (probably by analogy to the “levy” of an execution or other writ), and includes the assessment of persons or property, the entering of their several dues on the tax books, and the entire process of collecting the taxes.
(noun) – In practice. A seizure; the raising of the money for which an execution has been issued. Equitable levy. The lien in equity created by the filing of a creditors bill to subject real property of the debtor, and of a lis pendens, is sometimes so called.