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value-added tax

(Encyclopedia)value-added tax (VAT), levy imposed on business at all levels of the manufacture and production of a good or service and based on the increase in price, or value, provided by each level. Because the c...

Korngold, Erich Wolfgang

(Encyclopedia)Korngold, Erich Wolfgang, 1897–1957, American composer of film and concert music and opera, b. Brünn, Austria-Hungary (now Brno, Czech Republic). He began composing ballet music and operas in his t...

Sousa, John Philip

(Encyclopedia)Sousa, John Philip so͞oˈzə, –sə [key], 1854–1932, American bandmaster and composer, b. Washington, D.C. He studied violin and harmony in his native city and learned band instruments as an appr...

Caffieri

(Encyclopedia)Caffieri Fr. käfyārēˈ, Ital. käf-fyāˈrē [key], French family of artists. Philippe Caffieri, 1634–1716, left Italy to enter the service of Louis XIV at the Gobelin factory. He and a son, Jacq...

luxury tax

(Encyclopedia)luxury tax, levy on articles that are not essential to a normal standard of living. Such taxes may be imposed strictly for revenue purposes or they may be intended to discourage consumption of certain...

Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, Jacques Henri

(Encyclopedia)Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, Jacques Henri zhäk äNrēˈ bĕrnärdăNˈ də săN–pyĕrˈ [key], 1737–1814, French naturalist and author. He was a friend of Rousseau, by whom he was strongly influen...

Saint-Arnaud, Armand Jacques Leroy de

(Encyclopedia)Saint-Arnaud, Armand Jacques Leroy de ärmäNˈ zhäk lərwäˈ də săNtärnōˈ [key], 1798?–1854, marshal of France. After serving in the French Foreign Legion in Algeria from 1837, he was one of...

Canadian literature, French

(Encyclopedia)Canadian literature, French, the body of literature of the French-speaking population of Canada. Except for the narratives of French explorers (such as Samuel de Champlain and Pierre Esprit Radisson) ...

Kakinomoto no Hitomaro

(Encyclopedia)Kakinomoto no Hitomaro käˈkēˈnōˈmōˈtō nō hēˈtōˈmäˈrō [key], ?–710?, early Japanese lyric poet. He is the greatest poet represented in the Manyôshu [collection of myriad leaves], wh...

Wang An-shih

(Encyclopedia)Wang An-shih wäng än-shûr [key], 1021–86, Chinese Sung dynasty statesman. As a chief councilor (1069–74, 1075–76) he directed sweeping administrative and fiscal reforms that drew strong conse...