Question

Why did king Louis XVI conclude to increase taxes? Give 5 reasons with examples in support of your answer.

Answer 1

Reasons for which King Louis XVI concluded to increase taxes:

• In 1774, when Louis XVI ascended the throne of France, he found an empty treasury. Long years of war had drained the financial resources of the country.
• The cost of maintaining an extravagant court at the immense palace of Versailles also drained the resources.
• France, under the leadership of Louis XVI, helped the thirteen American colonies to gain their independence from Britain. The war added more than a billion livres to a debt which had already risen to 2 billion livres.
• Lenders who gave the state credit, now began to charge 10% on loans. So, the French government was obliged to spend an increasing percentage of its budget on interest payments alone.
• So, Louis XVI was forced to increase taxes to meet the nation's regular expenses, such as the cost of maintaining an army, the court, running government offices or universities.

Hope you could get an idea from here.

Doubt clarification - use comment section.

Answer 2

Because France was bankrupt from helping the American colonists in their fight against Great Britain for their independence (The American Revolution).

They had problems with a number of its neighbors including the Russians and England that is kinda why no one stepped in during the Revolution.

When Louis had first ascended the throne, his chief financial officer was a man named Turgot who was a brilliant and creative administrator. Turgot instantly set about trying to reform the country's financial situation by instituting a series of reforms that included replacing the corvée with a tax on landowners, an easing of guild laws to allow industrial manufacturing to increase, and, radically, a sharp cut in monarchical expenses.

When the reforms failed, Louis dismissed Turgot. From that point onwards, the country would fall into ruinous financial crisis. At the heart of the crisis was the financial and administrative mismanagement of taxes. Both the Seven Years War and the French support of the American Revolution had put France deeply in debt; over one half of the country's budget was dedicated to paying off that debt.

The country was going broke.