How tax exemptions helped trigger the French Revolution

Before the French Revolution, some of the richest groups were hardest to tax

By the late 1780s, France owed huge debts, yet much of the nobility and Church had special protection from taxes. Attempts to make these wealthy groups pay more repeatedly met resistance. A problem with government money helped grow into a political crisis.

Some octopuses drill through shells

Some octopuses use tiny teeth near their mouths to drill into the shells of crabs and mollusks. Their toxic saliva then helps break down the shell, and the prey dies very quickly once the shell has been opened.

Predatory fish can carry much more mercury than their prey

10× the prey fish’s body burden

Fish take in methylmercury faster than they can remove it. Larger fish then eat many smaller contaminated fish, causing mercury to build up through the food chain. A predator can carry about ten times as much as the fish it eats.

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How tax exemptions helped trigger the French Revolution

Before the French Revolution, some of the richest groups were hardest to tax

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