Lift European tax, in part held up (8)
I believe the answer is:
elevator
'lift' is the definition.
(I know that lift can be written as elevator)
'european tax in part held up' is the wordplay.
'european' becomes 'E' (abbreviation e.g. EU).
'tax' becomes 'VAT' (UK Value Added Tax).
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'part' becomes 'role' (eg a theatrical role).
'held up' is a reversal indicator.
'role' written backwards gives 'elor'.
'e'+'vat'='evat'
'evat' put within 'elor' is 'ELEVATOR'.
(Other definitions for elevator that I've seen before include "An American lift in building" , "Farm herd" , "An American lift - going up?" , "US lift" , "I go up" .)