The word of the day is levy:

< French levée, < lever to raise, levy < Latin levāre to raise.(Show Less)

1. The action of levying:

2. The amount or number levied:

a. †A duty, impost, tax. Obs. In a trade or benefit society: A call or contribution of so much per head. (OED)

 

 "In 1721, the government of Robert Walpole placed a range of tariffs on all manufactured imports, erecting a protective wall around businesses that created the Industrial Revolution.  A century later, while the heirs of Adam Smith were expounding the theoretical virtues of free trade, Britain retained some of the highest import tariffs in the world: more than fifty percent on many manufactured goods.  Those levies stayed high until the eighteen-sixties, when the country's competitive advantage in textiles, steel, and other industries was firmly established."

 - John Cassidy, "Enter the Dragon: Why 'state capitalism' is China's biggest knockoff", 13 December 2010 The New Yorker