Vingtième

The vingtième (French pronunciation: ​[vɛ̃tjɛm], twentieth) was an income tax of the ancien régime in France. It was abolished during the French Revolution.

It was first proposed by the minister of finance, Jean-Baptiste de Machault, comte d'Arnouville, in 1749. The War of the Austrian Succession had just ended, with the French government at the point of bankruptcy. A temporary income tax, the dixième, had been levied during the war, but Louis XV had promised that it would be removed with the end of the war. The comte d'Arnouville planned to introduce a new permanent tax modelled upon the dixième, to create a sinking fund to repay the national debt. The vingtième was to be 5% of income, collected directly by the government, from all people regardless of their rank.

Legislation establishing the new tax was put before the parlements for registration in 1749 and was briefly though vociferously opposed. The most determined objections came from the pays d'ètats, regions which traditionally avoided direct collection of similar taxes, the estates paying instead abonnements, or annual lump sum payments which usually ended up being much less than the proper amount collected individually.

After registration of the vingtième edicts by the parlements, the Languedoc estates voted to deny the government their usual annual payment, and were subsequently dissolved until 1752, the vingtième being collected directly by the royal intendant. In Brittany, the estates successfully prevented the collection of the new tax, leading to the imprisonment of several leading nobles.

...
Wikipedia