Eleventh century until The French Revolution
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Social Welfare in Europe: An Historical Overview
Taxation
History of Taxation in France
First century BC until 756 AD Church tithes
Eleventh century until The French Revolution
1790–1914 Republican Tax
from 1799 to 1945
from 1948 to 1976
from 1982 to 1999
from 2000 to 2006
Bibliography
History of the OECD Model Tax Convention
Eleventh, twelfth, and thirteen century—feudal tributes
Over the three preceding centuries, the Carolingian dynasty moved relentlessly to its end.
Between the eleventh and twelfth centuries, France was nothing more than a mosaic of small
feudal lords, some secular, some monastic, who owned land and represented the law in their
territory. Feudal taxation developed, not without encountering obstacles and leading to peasant
revolts, which were all cruelly subdued and drowned in blood.
This taxation grew to be very bureaucratic and expensive. The taxes were divided into two
tributes: a large tribute paid to rent the lord’s lands and a small tribute paid for the lord’s
sovereignty. In addition, there were other feudal duties: the lord’s right to accommodation and
food in a serf’s home, the right to take wheat, wine, animals, etc. from a serf’s home, etc., which
led to all kinds of abuses that were not restricted until 1254 and 1255.
There were also safety-related services: the watch, defending the lord’s lands, accompanying
the lord in wars.
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A decree dated 18 July 1793 eliminated “all former feudal tributes”.
It was the French Revolution that put an end to Church and feudal taxation. It was also caused
by the most infamous direct tax: the taille, an individual tax levied on feudal dependents, one or
several times a year, by their superiors. The taille, the oldest of the royal taxes, was an
apportioned tax. A special taille was established very early on for Jews, who were not protected
by the Church.
Thirteenth to Fourteenth centuries: the salt tax (gabelle)
In the Middle Ages, from the ninth to the twelfth centuries, the production and sale of salt was
dependent on the seignories, especially the large abbeys that owned the coastal salt marshes
and the inland salt wells. The kings of France, understanding that this could be a major source
of income, became progressively interested in this trade, and the salt tax or gabelle was first
mentioned in 1244, in an order from Saint Louis. Although originally a temporary levy, this tax
became permanent under the Valois, with Philip VI transforming the sale of salt into a royal
monopoly in 1340.
The salt tax became the main indirect tax under the Ancien Régime, and according to Henry
IV’s finance minister Sully, it represented the second most important source of income for the
State. This tax was unpopular because it was levied on a commodity that is necessary for life
and required for preserving meat. This hated tax became the instigation for a huge black market
trade, because the gabelle was not the same throughout the country. Brittany was a “paradise”,
with salt selling cheap, while Anjou was “hell”, with salt at a very high price. In addition, the salt
tax was not levied everywhere, and certain provinces were “free” (franc) or exempt from the salt
tax because they neighboured salt marshes or because they demanded this exemption when
they joined the kingdom.
According to the revolutionary and politician Mirabeau, the salt tax was a perfect representative
of Ancien Régime taxation: illogical and incoherent, with a long list of exemptions, exceptions,
privileges, requiring numerous regulations, complex and often contradictory rulings, all of which
encouraged fraud.
Fifteen century
A ruling dated 2 November 1439 definitively established the royal tribute or taille.
Seventeenth century: the capitation
On January 16, 1695, Louis XIV set up the capitation, a tax paid per head, which was the first
step the Ancien Régime made towards tax equality. As a result, 1695 represents a major
turning point in the history of taxation in France.
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Eighteenth century: capitation, royal dime, taille, dixièmes, cinquantièmes, first, second
and third
ving
tièmes
, corvées… and the French Revolution
The first decades of the eighteenth century saw the creation of new taxes that did not replace
existing taxes, but added to them, which logically led to the French Revolution.
On 12 March 1701, a declaration turned the capitation into an apportioned tax. Very quickly, the
capitation was apportioned in the same way as the taille, which contributed to transform it into a
mere increase of the taille. At the end of the reign of Louis XIV, the capitation on goods subject
to the taille, in a country of individual taille, was nothing more than an additional taille.
The capitation for nobles was lower, so much lower that although they were not exempt from
this levy, it was nearly as if they were in reality. As a result, nobles did not balk at paying the
small capitation.
In 1707, Vauban established the royal dime, a tax in kind on all income, inspired by the Church
tithe that was paid in kind easily and without much cost.
De Boisguillebert set the tariffs for the tailles, which taxed both capital and income.
A declaration dated 14 October 1710 established the dixième, or tenth part. An exceptional tax,
a war tax, paid in money. It was a tax by category on all the various sources of income, no
privileges granted. The four main categories of income were:
- Category A: income from property, land, seigniorial rights, property annuities, mills, forges,
houses, etc.
- Category B: movable income, annuities from individuals, the clergy, towns and provinces
- Category C: Industrial and commercial income
- Category D: income from responsibilities and offices held.
It was abolished in 1717 and re-established in 1733 and in 1741.
Very different from the tenth, the cinquantième (fiftieth) was imagined in 1725 by the Paris
brothers, particularly Paris-Duverney, a veritable finance minister. This was a tax established
during a period of peace, originally for a limited period of 12 years, but whose prolongation
could be foreseen; it was a tax in kind, unlike the
dixième
, which was a tax paid in money. It was perhaps idealistic, but it offered the major advantage of
doing away with preferential treatment, lenient bonuses, special arrangements, exceptions to
general rules, illusory declarations, easily granted exemptions and reductions which limited the
yield of the
dixième
to so little. Those privileged by the former system put up such staunch resistance to the
changes that on 21 June 1926, it was decided the tax would be paid in money and not in kind,
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and then the following year it was quite simply repealed.
The dixième reappeared with the war of Polish succession in 1733, then was abolished in 1736
when hostilities ended and before peace was officially concluded; it reappeared again in 1741
with the war of Austrian succession.
In 1738, the royal corvée was established.
An edict in May 1749 established the first vingtième (twentieth): a twentieth of property, a
twentieth of movable assets, a twentieth of industrial yields, a twentieth of income from offices
and entitlements. The
vingtième was to be
levied on all income, without exception, without privileges, and seemed destined to ensure the
victory of tax equality and uniformity over the old traditions. Opposition was staunch from all
sides, from all the privileged, including nobles and the clergy.
In 1756, a second vingtième was established, named the military vingtième, to cover the costs
of the new war, and in 1782, a third
vingtième
was voted, adding it to the other two!
The corvée
This “taxation in kind” was a heavy burden on the population. It was abusive and overwhelmed
the most destitute of the population. It wasn’t until the 6 May 1775 that the corvée was
suspended.
the French Revolution
Exasperated by the burden of all these taxes, the third estate had a single idea in mind: destroy
the Ancien Régime, which had refused to carry out any reforms. We only mention the third
estate, because the French Revolution was exclusively the work of the middle classes, in the
cities and the countryside. The working population was barely involved in the French
Revolution. The workers remained royalist for a long time, and peasants remained indifferent.
Within a period of two years (1789–1791), the French Revolution totally changed the tax
landscape. No other event in the history of a country could even hint at the extent of the
change, because no other internal change was so complete, so in-depth and so radical.
The tax reforms carried out by the National Constituent Assembly were:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Abolition of feudal rights, with no compensation except for property annuities.
Elimination of Church tithes, with the exception of a few that had not been enfeoffed.
Confiscation of all clergy property, which was evaluated at 4 billion francs.
Elimination of all indirect taxes.
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5. Creation of a territorial tax on all immovable property without exception, meant to
represent a fifth of the net proceeds and produce 300 million francs.
6. Creation of two other direct tributes, the first on property wealth and the second on trade
and industry, meant to produce 80 to 100 million francs.
7. Redemption of all judicature offices
8. Creation of border customs duties and a vote for moderate duties.
9. Absolute liberty to property, to movement, to freedom of transportation, work and trade.
With the exception of the sale of Church property, all the reforms took place within a period of
two years, without any compensation for the clergy or for nobles.
Led by the middle classes, the Revolution aimed to benefit them. After having been subject to
feudal and church taxes without any counterpart, the middle classes purely and simply decided
to dispose of the royalty that had gone bankrupt so many times, and to provide no
compensation for the nobles and the clergy who had snubbed and persecuted them for so long.
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