<P> Peasants and nobles alike were required to pay one - tenth of their income or produce to the church (the tithe). Peasants paid a land tax to the state (the taille), a 5% property tax (the vingtième). All paid a tax on the number of people in the family (capitation), depending on the status of the taxpayer (from poor to prince). Further royal and seigneurial obligations might be paid in several ways: in labor (the corvée), in kind, or, rarely, in coin . Peasants were also obligated to their landlords for: rent in cash (the cens), a payment related to their amount of annual production (the champart), and taxes on the use of the nobles' mills, wine - presses, and bakeries (the banalités). In good times, the taxes were burdensome; in harsh times, they were devastating . After a less - than - fulsome harvest, people would starve to death during the winter . </P> <P> Tax collection was farmed out (privatized) to "fermiers", through a system of public bidding . Public officials bought their positions from the king, sometimes on an annual basis, sometimes in perpetuity . Often an additional tax, called "paulette" was paid by the holders of an office to upgrade their position to one that could be passed along as an inheritance . Naturally, holders of these offices tried to reimburse themselves by milking taxpayers as hard as possible . For instance, in a civil lawsuit, judges required that both parties pay for the costs of the trial (called the épices, the spices); this, effectively, put justice out of the reach of all but the wealthy . </P> <P> The system also exempted the nobles and the clergy from taxes (with the exception of a modest quit - rent, an ad valorem tax on land). The tax burden, therefore, devolved to the peasants, wage - earners, and the professional and business classes, also known as the third estate . Further, people from less - privileged walks of life were blocked from acquiring even petty positions of power in the regime . This caused further resentment . </P> <P> During the reigns of Louis XV (1715--1774) and Louis XVI (1774--1792), several ministers, most notably Turgot and Necker, proposed revisions to the French tax system so as to include the nobles as taxpayers, but these proposals were not adopted because of resistance from the parlements (provincial courts of appeal). Members of these courts bought their positions from the king, as well as the right to transfer their positions hereditarily through payment of an annual fee, the paulette . Membership in such courts, or appointment to other public positions, often led to elevation to the nobility (the so - called Nobles of the Robe, as distinguished from the nobility of ancestral military origin, the Nobles of the Sword .) While these two categories of nobles were often at odds, they both sought to retain their privileges . </P>

The causes and results of the french revolution