Tariff
A tariff is a tax on imports or exports between sovereign states. It is a form of regulation of foreign trade. It is a policy that taxes foreign products to encourage or protect domestic industry. It helps limit trade deficits. The tariff is historically used to protect infant industries and to allow import substitution industrialization.
Excise tax in the United States
An example of a "state of being" tax is an ad valorem property tax—which is not an excise. Customs or tariffs are based on the property (usually imported goods) as a "state of being" or ad valorem taxes and are also typically not called excise taxes. Excise taxes are collected by producers and retailers and paid to the Internal Revenue Service or other state and/or local government tax collection agency. Historical federal excise tax collections to 1945 are listed in the "Historical Statistics of the United States" and more recent federal excise tax data is listed in the White House historical tables.