USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -All members of the third estate had to pay taxes to the state. These included a direct tax, called taille, and a number of indirect taxes which were levied on articles of everyday consumption like salt or tobacco.

Detailed explanation-2: -The First and Second Estates were exempted from most taxes. The Third Estate retained the burden of producing the wealth for the two privileged Estates and also the responsibility of paying nearly all of the taxes.

Detailed explanation-3: -The Third Estate, which had the most representatives, declared itself the National Assembly and took an oath to force a new constitution on the king.

Detailed explanation-4: -The tax system in pre-revolutionary France largely exempted the nobles and the clergy from taxes. The tax burden therefore devolved to the peasants, wage-earners, and the professional and business classes, also known as the Third Estate.

Detailed explanation-5: -The Third Estate was made up of everyone else, from peasant farmers to the bourgeoisie – the wealthy business class. While the Second Estate was only 1% of the total population of France, the Third Estate was 96%, and had none of the rights and priviliges of the other two estates.