Gabelle

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The gabelle ( French pronunciation: Ã, [? Ab? L] is tax which was very unpopular with the salt in France that was established during the mid-14th century and underway, with a short aberration and revision, until 1946. The term gabelle comes from Italian gabella (duty), itself comes from Arabic word qabala ?????? ("he accepts").

In France, gabelle was originally an indirect tax applied to agricultural and industrial commodities, such as sheets, wheat, spices, and grapes. However, since the 14th century onwards, gabelle is limited and only refers to the royal salt lease by the French Government.

Since gabelle affects all French citizens (for use in cooking, to conserve food, for cheese making and for raising livestock) and spreading extreme regional differences in salt prices, the salt tax is one of the most hated and very uneven forms of income. generation in the country's history. Removed in 1790 by the National Assembly in the midst of the French Revolution, Gabelle was later restored by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1806. Briefly terminated and restored during the Second Republic of France and finally abolished in 1945 after the liberation of France from Nazi Germany.

Video Gabelle

Introduction

In 1229, when the Albigensian Crusade was brought to near by Louis IX and his mother (Blanche of Castile), the French ruled the Estuary of RhÃÆ'Â'ne and the nearby Mediterranean coast. This led to the formation of the first Mediterranean port city of Aigues-Mortes in France in 1246, literally translated into Dead Waters, and the creation of a vast network of evaporation-salt pools. These salt jobs will fund St. Louis' (as he later called) crusade ambitions in the Middle East. A lucrative way to generate revenue for the French war, the royal control over salt and its production stands as the origin of the famous French salt gabelle.

As a temporary tax under St. Louis, in 1259, his brother Charles I further established a royal control over salt, in this case above the Berre salt plant near Marseilles. This salt administration will eventually include Peccais, Aigues-Mortes, and the Camargue region and later known as the Pays de petites gabelles. On March 16, 1341, Philip VI of Valois established the first permanent royal tax on salt in France, known as the Pays de grandes gabelles.

Repressive as a state monopoly, it's made double by the government that requires every individual over the age of eight to buy a weekly minimum salt at a fixed price. Known as Sel de devoir , translated to "salt duty", residents in the Paying de de Grande gabelles region are forced to buy up to 7 pounds of salt per year. In addition, they can not use this salt to make salted products, which are considered illegal and can lead to false counterfeits, or salt fraud. Failure to comply with this may lead to imprisonment and, if repeated, death.

Each province has Greniers ÃÆ' cell - a salt barn - where all the salt produced from that area needs to be taken for purchase (at a fixed price) and sold (at an inflated price).

Maps Gabelle

Classification

When first instituted, gabelle was levied uniformly in all provinces in France at a rate of 1.66% on the sale price. However, for most of its history, prices vary and make a big difference between different provinces. There are six different provincial groups, called pay (lit. "state"; to be understood as the obsolete word for "region"), and are classified as follows:

• that Paying de grandes gabelles ; This region includes the Paris Basin and the oldest provinces of the empire: ÃÆ'Žle-de-France, Berry, Orlà © Ã… anais, Touraine, Anjou, Maine, Bourbonnais, Normandy, Bourgogne (except the southeast third), Champagne (except the Rethel area, low given earlier), Picardy (except the Boulonnais and Cambrai dioceses). The largest of the six regions, it is not only the highest salt price but also the obligatory salt obligation for everyone over eight years. A third of French citizens live in the region, and pay two-thirds of all salt income, but only consume a quarter of all salt.
• the Pays de petites gabelles ; This region includes the provinces of Lyonnais, Provence, Roussillon, Languedoc and DauphinÃÆ'Ã… ©, southeastern Burgundy (MÃÆ' Â ¢ connais, Bresse, Bugey, and Beaujolais districts), and southern Auvergne (district of Forez and Rouergue). This region includes southeastern France, including the Mediterranean coastline and the lower RhÃÆ'Â'ne valley. The gabelle is about half of the tariff as in pay de grandes gabelles . A fifth of all French citizens live in the region and pay a quarter of the royal salt income.
• that Paying de quart-bouillon ; these provinces include Avranches, Coutances, Bayeux, and Pont l'EvÃÆ'ªque. A quarter of all salt produced in this region goes to the royal barn.
• that Pay for copies ; these provinces include Franche-Comtà ©  ©, Lorraine, Trois EvÃÆ'ªches (Metz, Toul, and Verdun) and Alsace. Unlike in petites and grandes areas, the law enacted here allows private traders to engage in the distribution of retail and wholesale salts rather than full oversight by state officials. As a result, the price of this region's salt is less affected by gabelle and its people are more satisfied with its impact. People here consume twice as much salt as Pays de grandes gabelles.
• that Pay redimÃÆ' Â © s ; these provinces include Poitou, Limousin, Auvergne, Marche, Guyenne, PÃÆ' Â © rigord, Bigorre, Pays de Foix, and Comminges. After a rebellion caused by tax action in the early to mid 1500s, in this region, in 1549, an agreement was made that the citizens there would pay large sums of money to the king and forever be exempt from the salt taxes. Instead, they are only taxed on tolls when transporting salt.
• Paying free ; These free provinces include Brittany, Boulonnais, Calaisis, Hainault, Artois, Flanders, CambrÃÆ' Â sis, the Kingdom of Sedan and Raucour, Nebouzan, BÃÆ'Ã… © arn, Soule, Lower Navarre, Labor, Gex region, Arles, the islands RÃÆ' Â © and Oleron as well as parts of Aunis and Poitou which are close to Atlantic copy. Before entering the French empire, all of the above mentioned areas make a covenant with the crown that they would only do so if they were not under the jurisdiction of gabelle.

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Smuggling

Since all Pays have extreme differences in tax rates and salt consumption, the odds of smuggling are ripe in France. In 1784, Jacques Necker, a Swiss-born Swiss statesman and finance minister Louis XVI until the French Revolution, reported that the salt minot, which is 49 kilos (107.8 pounds) costs only 31 sous in Brittany, but 81 in Poitou, 591 in Anjou, and 611 in Berry.

The big difference in the cost between the various pay clearly shows the reason behind the smuggling of active salt that occurred in France until the gabelle is removed. A clear salt smuggling tool is to buy it in cheap areas and illegally sell it in expensive areas, at a higher price, but still less than the legal price. Such smugglers are called faux-sauniers , from faux ("false") and root sau -, referring to salt. They were able to accumulate great wealth and be seen by French citizens as an arbitrary and oppressive tax hero of the common good needed for life. In turn, the customs officers assigned to capture the faux-sauniers are called gabelous , a term obviously derived from the gabelle they seek to grasp. They are hated by ordinary people because they, without cause, can search for people and their homes to find illegal salt. The gabelous carries a gun and is known to squeeze the ladies for fun under the guise of looking for salt. However, women are often used to smuggle salt under their clothes and sometimes use one of the terms known as faux culls . By the end of the 18th century, women smuggling was very common in some areas, especially in the west, that more women were arrested than men. It is estimated that between 1759 and 1788, from the arrest of 4788 in Laval, 2845 women and children were arrested, amounting to more than half.

Under 1640 the codification of the gabelle legislation by Jean-Baptiste Colbert, participating in faux saunage, guarantees harsh punishments. Simply putting faux-saunier can lead to jail, fine, and, if repeated, death. Faux Smugglers can be sentenced to up to ten years in the kitchen if they are caught without weapons, and to death if caught armed. Other forms of faux-saunage include sheepherder letting their flocks drink from salt ponds, traders are too salty cod during transportation, and fishing at night (so fishermen with great knowledge about the waterways can not smuggle in salt). French nobles, if caught buying smuggled salt, will soon lose their noble status after their first offense. In 1773, along the Loire River, which separated the Brittany and Anjou regions, with salt prices of 31 sous and 591 sous, more than 3,000 soldiers were placed in response to the large number of smuggling that occurred.

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French Revolution

There are many reasons for the French Revolution, but the unfair taxes and financial burdens imposed on lower classes and peasants are a major aspect of public dissatisfaction. Every year, at the end of the 18th century, about 3,000 citizens (men, women, and children) are imprisoned, sent into the gallery, or sentenced to death for crimes against gabelle. Meanwhile, religious people, nobles, and high officials are often freed from gabelle or pay much lower taxes. In 1789, after the rise of the National Assembly, gabelle was rejected and abolished throughout France. Then, in 1790, the National Assembly ruled that all those imprisoned for violating the law relating to gabelle should be released from prison and that all allegations and convictions should be imposed on a permanent basis.

This freedom would be short lived, however, as Napoleon Bonaparte restored the gabelle in 1804, this time without a great exception to areas such as Brittany. The gabelle lived part of French legislation until it was abolished in 1946.

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Salt taxes outside France

The gabelle, and other salt taxes, had existed outside France before and after the French Revolution in 1790. The most important example is the salt tax in China and the salt tax in India is included under the UK.

In China, the state monopoly on salt, also known as gasifle salt, has been around since 119 BC and lasts until 2014, making it the world's oldest (and possibly first) monopoly of the world. In the mid-Tang dynasty, the tax on salt brought in more than half of the government's tax revenues, and continued to be a major factor even in the 20th century.

In India, there was a tax on salt for hundreds of years but it greatly improved after the governance of Indian provinces by the British East India Company. In salt-producing areas like Orissa, private salt sales are prohibited, and salt found to be transported must be sold to UK authorities at a fixed price, and, in later years, salt production is prohibited altogether. This is done to preserve the high price of British salt by destroying the long tradition of Indian salt manufacture. In 1858, when the British controlled the Indian provinces, these taxes remained.

Salt played a major role in India's independence effort. In 1930, the famous Salt Satyagraha by Mahatma Gandhi took place and caused nonviolent protests throughout the provinces of British India. A 24-day, 240-mile march from Sabarmati Ashram to the coastal village of Dandi, Gandhi will, at the end of the journey, illegally harvest salt without paying taxes to the British Empire. Salt was chosen by Gandhi because his taxation greatly hurt the poorest Indians and, "Besides air and water, salt is probably the greatest necessity of life." Despite the national influence and international recognition obtained by Salt Satyagraha, the salt tax remained until it was repealed by Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister of the Provisional Government, in 1946.

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See also

• The history of UK salt taxes in India
• List of taxes
• Salt tax

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References

Source of the article : Wikipedia