Mane and Fuld both breathed a sigh of relief when Jerome Bonaparte requested an additional value-added tax on existing luxury goods instead of implementing a moveable property tax/personal income tax.
For the people of Paris, and indeed all of France, the establishment of each "new" tax signifies the beginning of tyranny.
Throughout history, French rulers have warned their successors with bloody experience that it is best not to introduce brand new taxes unless social tensions escalate to an uncontrollable extent.
Levying an additional value-added tax on high luxury goods is one of the easiest taxes to collect among all, and Jerome Bonaparte was equally confident that this policy was an effective measure. In recorded history, Thiers of the Third Republic elevated the economy to the pre-war level of 1869 through the policy of additional taxes, even exceeding the central fiscal revenue of 1869 by 1.1 billion francs, and the market thrived as a result of this policy.
