Tax initially taken involving typist's hopeless error (5)
I believe the answer is:
tithe
'tax' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'initially taken involving typist's hopeless error' is the wordplay.
'initially' says to take the initial letters.
The first letters of 'taken involving typists hopeless error' is 'TITHE'.
(Other definitions for tithe that I've seen before include "Gift of tenth" , "property tax" , "Charge" , "financial contribution" , "Ancient tax" .)