Something to raise European tax covered by the Spanish gold (8)
I believe the answer is:
elevator
'something to raise' is the definition.
'european tax covered by the spanish gold' is the wordplay.
'european' becomes 'e' (abbreviation e.g. EU).
'tax' becomes 'vat' (British sales tax).
'covered by' says to put letters next to each other (on top of in a down clue).
'the spanish' becomes 'el'.
'gold' becomes 'or' ('or' is the heraldic name for gold).
'e'+'vat'='evat'
'evat' put after 'el' is 'elevat'.
'elevat'+'or'='ELEVATOR'
(Other definitions for elevator that I've seen before include "Gentle caress" , "one that goes up and down" , "I go up" , "North American lift" , "Lifting device" .)