Taille

The taille was a direct land tax on the French peasantry in Ancien Régime France (since the nobles refused to pay taxes). The tax was imposed on each household and based on how much land they held. It was determined by the French kings from year to year after the Estates General was suspended in 1484.

The taille became a major source of royal income, the most important direct tax of pre-Revolutionary France, and provided for the growing cost of warfare in the 15th and 16th centuries. The taille was one of the most hated taxes of the Ancien Régime because nobles and the clergy were exempt from it.