no-new-taxes

The phrase "no new taxes" is a modern English political construct, emerging prominently in late 20th-century American politics. It is formed from three foundational English words: 'no' (from Old English 'nā', a compound of 'ne' 'not' + 'ā' 'ever'), 'new' (from Old English 'nīwe', 'nēowe', from Proto-Germanic 'newjaz'), and 'taxes' (plural of 'tax', from Old French 'taxer', from Latin 'taxare' 'to censure, charge, compute'). The phrase's logic is purely syntactic and literal, combining a negation, an adjective, and a noun to create an absolute pledge. Its power and subsequent notoriety stem from its use as a definitive campaign promise, where its abstract political meaning—a commitment to fiscal restraint—is built directly upon the transparent, concrete meanings of its components.

This is a hyphenated compound phrase. It is not a single, indivisible simplex word but a fixed, slogan-like construction. Its meaning is derived entirely from the combination of its constituent English words: 'no', 'new', and 'taxes'. As a modern political idiom, it does not lend itself to morpheme segmentation in the traditional etymological sense.