Skip to main content

How did the taxes affect each of the three estates in France?

The main problem confronting France in the late eighteenth century (at least as regards taxation) was that the first two estates--the clergy and the nobility, respectively--were not really taxed at all. The complex network of privileges that undergirded Bourbon society placed the tax burden most heavily on the Third Estate. This presented a major problem as the French Crown faced a severe fiscal crisis in the wake of its participation in the wars of the American Revolution. Louis XVI attempted, through his ministers, to secure at least moderate tax reforms, but the nobles, who had control of the French courts, blocked these measures. By the time Louis XVI called the Estates General to address the crisis, his kingdom was basically insolvent as a result of the unbalanced tax system. As to how this system affected the people of each of the orders, ordinary Frenchmen found the gabelle, a tax on salt, to be particularly odious. The bourgeoisie, a growing class of merchants and professionals, resented the licenses and other fees associated with doing business. Both hated the taille, a "head tax" on French families. Overall, the middle classes in particular came to see the nobles and especially the clergy as parasites who lived off of their labor. Their dissatisfaction was one of many factors that contributed to the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...

Is 'efficate' a word in English?

I routinely hear the word "efficate" being used. For example, "The most powerful way to efficate a change in the system is to participate." I do not find entries for this word in common English dictionaries, but I do not have an unabridged dictionary. I have checked the OED (I'm not sure if it is considered unabridged), and it has no entry for "efficate". It does have an entry for "efficiate", which is used in the same way. Wordnik has an entry for "efficate" with over 1800 hits, thus providing some evidence for the frequency of use. I personally like the word and find the meaning very clear and obvious when others use it. If it's not currently an "officially documented" word, perhaps its continued use will result in it being better documented.