hood tax

hood tax
 n.Gloss: a mugging or the things taken in a mugging. «Police say some criminals have taken to calling their robberies at gunpoint of people on Akron streets a “hood tax,” part of a growing number of robberies involving guns.…The victim, 28, told police he was walking to Family Video at about 10:30 p.m. when he was approached by the two, who pulled handguns and announced: “This is hood tax.” The victim said he understood “hood tax” to mean he should surrender his cash and valuables.» —“Street stickup gets 75 cents, cell phone—then victim shot” by Carl Chancellor Beacon Akron Beacon Journal (Ohio) Nov. 8, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)

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Further reading

Fair Dinkum (episode #1612)

A magnificent new book celebrates the richness and diversity of 450 years of written and spoken English in what is now the United States. It’s called The People’s Tongue, and it’s a sumptuous collection of essays, letters, poems...