Other forms: tax abatements
Tax abatement is when you don't have to pay a portion of the money you expected to owe to the government. For most people, these are joyous words.
Tax is a fee the government charges citizens to support itself. And abatement comes from the French abatre, "to strike down or reduce." The term tax abatement is usually used when a person or business would normally owe a certain amount of tax, but the government has offered them a discount for some reason. For example, if you buy a house in an underpopulated area, the city government might offer a ten-year tax abatement on property taxes.