Gabelle

ガベル ／ gabelle　—　Institutions

An inescapable consumption tax from the royal salt monopoly. It became the most hated tax until the Revolution.

A consumption tax from the French royal monopoly on salt. Salt was essential for preservation, and no one could escape it. The price of salt in Paris was about thirty times that in Brittany, creating extreme inequality and making it the most hated tax until the Revolution.

⚠ The hatred for a tax is determined more by its unfairness than by its rate—this is the lesson left by this tax.