Boisguilbert, Pierre le Pesant, sieur de, French History, Biographies

Related Category: French History, Biographies

Boisguilbert, Pierre le Pesant, sieur de[pyer lu puzAN´ syOr du bwAgElber´] Pronunciation Key, 1646–1714, French economist. A local official of Rouen after 1689, he proposed a radical alteration of the French fiscal system in order to revive the finances of the nearly bankrupt state. Seeing the results of King Louis XIV's military expenditures in heavy taxation and oppression of the poor, Boisguilbert urged an income tax of 10%, particularly in Le DEtail de la France (1695) and Factum de la France (1707). He insistently forced his advice on Michel Chamillart, controller general to Louis XIV. Chamillart had him exiled for six months in 1707. His name also appears as Boisguillebert.

See biography by H. V. Roberts (1935).