What Are Taxes?

Louis the 16th needed all these taxes to pay for his wars, Mary Antoinette and new gold for his palaces. The King had horrid prisons, dark, dank places like the King's feared prison castle, the Bastille. But what made it worse was that the rich people whose family were friends with the King didn't pay any taxes at all. Even though the King was taking so much money in taxes, he still didn't have enough money. So he called the Estates General - a sort of old French Parliament but lost control. They decided they wouldn't be bullied by the King and they would all stick together. Then the ordinary people on the street got old