Taille

The taille was a direct land tax on the French peasantry and non-nobles in Ancien Régime France. The tax was imposed on each household and based on how much land they held.

Related Topics:
Tax - French - Peasant - Ancien Régime

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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 "domaine royal", or lands that belonged to him directly), the taille became permanent under Charles VII of France. Unlike modern income taxes, the total amount of the taille was first set (after the Estates General was suspended in 1484) by the French king from year to year, and this amount was then apportioned among the various provinces for collection.

Related Topics:
Charles VII of France - Estates General - 1484

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Exempted from the tax were clergy and nobles (except for non-noble lands they held in "pays d'état" ), officers of the crown, military personel, magistrates, university professors and students, and certain cities ("villes franches") such as Paris.

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The provinces were of two sorts, the "pays d'élection" and the "pays d'état" (like Brittany, Languedoc, Dauphiné and Provence). In the "pays d'élection", the assessment and collection of taxes were trusted to elected (at least orignally, later these positions were bought) officials (generally wealthy individuals), and the tax was "personal", meaning it was attached to non-noble individuals. In the pays d'état, the assessment of the tax was established by local councils and the tax was "real", meaning that it was attached to non-noble lands (meaning that nobles possessing such lands were required to pay taxes on them).

Related Topics:
Brittany - Languedoc - Dauphiné - Provence

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Efficient tax collection was one of the major causes for French administrative and royal centralization in the Early Modern period. The taille became a major source of royal income (roughly half in the 1570s), the most important direct tax of pre-Revolutionary France, and provided for the growing cost of warfare in the 15th and 16th centuries. Records show the taille increasing from 2.5 million livres in 1515 to 6 million after 1551; in 1589 the taille reached a record 21 million livres, before dropping.

Related Topics:
Early Modern period - Revolutionary - Livre

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The taille was only one of a number of taxes. There also existed a national salt tax (the gabelle), national tarifs (the "aides") on various products (including wine), local tarifs on speciality 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".

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Louis XIV of France created several additional tax systems, including the "captation" (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.

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The taille eventually became one of the most hated taxes of the Ancien Régime.

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