Taille
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Ancien Régime |
Structure |
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The taille (French pronunciation:
History
Originally only an "exceptional" tax (i.e. imposed and collected in times of need, as the king was expected to survive on the revenues of the "
Exempted from the tax were clergy and nobles (except for non-noble lands they held in "pays d'état" [see below]), officers of the crown, military personnel, magistrates, university professors and students, and franchises (villes franches) such as Paris.
The provinces were of three sorts, the
In an attempt to reform the fiscal system, new administrative divisions were created in the 16th century. The Recettes générales, commonly known as généralités and overseen in the beginning by receveurs généraux or généraux conseillers (royal tax collectors), were initially only taxation districts. Their role steadily increased and by the mid 17th century, the généralités were under the authority of an intendant, and they became a vehicle for the expansion of royal power in matters of justice, taxation, and policing. By the outbreak of the Revolution, there were 36 généralités; the last two were created as recently as 1784.
Until the late 17th century, tax collectors were called receveurs royaux. In 1680, the system of the
Collection
Efficient tax collection was one of the major causes for French administrative and royal centralization in the
The taille was only one of a number of taxes. There also existed the "taillon" (a tax for military expenditures), a national salt tax (the gabelle), a tax on consumer goods usually used to pay for fortifications (the maltôte), national tariffs (the "aides") on various products (including wine), local tariffs on specialty products (the "douane") or levied on products entering the city (the "octroi") or sold at fairs, and local taxes. Finally, the church benefited from a mandatory tax or tithe called the "dîme".
Louis XIV created several additional tax systems, including the "capitation" (begun in 1695) which touched every person including nobles and the clergy (although exemption could be bought for a large one-time sum) and the "dixième" (1710–1717, restarted in 1733), which was a true tax on income and on property value and was meant to support the military. Every Frenchman, except the Dauphin of France and paupers were subject to the capitation tax. Noble capitation was assessed by the intendant of the generality, and at first it was established that the nobility pay 1/90 of their annual income. This was not always the case, however, as many of the nobility had the means to lobby against the tax, and regularly appeal the assessments. As capitation was paid at the place of residence, rich landlords with many estates, and those who lived in Paris or at the Court of Versailles, could evade it. The duc d'Orleans famously bragged about setting his own rate: "I work things out with the intendants; I pay more or less what I like."[1]
In 1749, under Louis XV, a new tax based on the "dixième", the "vingtième" (or "one-twentieth"), was enacted to reduce the royal deficit, and this tax continued through the ancien régime. This tax was based solely on revenues (5% of net earnings from land, property, commerce, industry and from official offices), and was meant to reach all citizens regardless of status, but the clergy, the regions with "pays d'état" and the parlements protested; the clergy won exemption, the "pays d'état" won reduced rates, and the parlements halted new income statements, effectively making the "vingtième" a far less efficient tax than it was designed to be. The financial needs of the Seven Years' War led to a second (1756–1780), and then a third (1760–1763) "vingtième" being created. In 1754 the "vingtième" produced 11.7 million livres.
The taille was used very heavily by the French to fund their many wars like the
See also
References
- ^ Chaussinand-Nogaret, Guy (1976) The French nobility in the eighteenth century, Cambridge University Press.
- ^ "Page:Alexis de Tocqueville - L'Ancien Régime et la Révolution, Lévy, 1866.djvu/171 - Wikisource" (in French). Fr.wikisource.org. 2020-02-07. Retrieved 2020-02-29.