The outlet says Michal first used the concept on July 2 and the word itself directly on July 8 at the start of coalition negotiations when he was prime ministerial candidate.

Speaking to the media with coalition partners SDE and Eesti 200, he said the new government needs to stop proposing additional taxes every week.

"The Opinion Festival [Arvamus] will definitely continue, but the tax festival could at least start to be curtailed at the government level," he said.

The word has since been widely adopted by the media and society.

Linguist Marja Vaba told the outlet that Michal could go down in the history books with a "tax festival" label on his forehead. "In my opinion, this is certainly a term that will be associated with the outgoing year and the new prime minister," she agreed with journalists.

Delfi's criteria for the word of the year were its widespread use, its characterization of important events in the year, and its liguistic inventiveness.

"Julgeolekumaks" (security tax) and "kultuuripealinn" (capital of culture) were awarded second and third places.   

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