The Taxation And The Agrarian Life In Early Modern France (1560-1715)

The taxation system of the early modern France has prominent traits influenced by the absolutism. This paper tries to discuss these traits and its effects on the economical and social life of the French countries. The first chapter mainly makes out the irrationality of the French taxation system, and analyses the basic status of the states' taxation and the per capita tax burden of the peasants. The second chapter discusses the effects the taxation has made on the peasants' revenues, and analyses the relation between the taxation and the peasants' consumption and investment on the agriculture by using the theories of the taxation's consumption-effects and investment-effects. The final chapter emphasizes on the relation between the taxation and the land sales, the change of the rural social structures, and indicates that the government's taxation policies have an important effect on the reservation of the village communities and the common lands. The main point of this paper is that the irrationality of the taxation system in early modern France has great retrogressive effects on the economic development and the social transformation of the rural society.