The tax burden did not exceed 10%. Many propositions, successively from Doumer, Cavaignac and Waldeck-Rousseau, failed, due to the opposition of the right. It was the Great War which gave the opportunity to create a tax on income, in 1917, thanks to Joseph Caillaux, the minister of Finances. At the same time, the four contributions created in 1790 and 1791 were turned into local taxes, and replaced by the income tax as the main national tax. After the Second World War, the tax system underwent a certain number of reforms aiming at modernizing and adapting it. The income tax was adapted and old contributions abolished. A family quotient was created in 1945. The business tax was created in 1948, reformed in 1959. Finally, the last significant innovation in technical terms, the VAT was introduced in 1954. Then the French example was adopted gradually in most developed countries. The French tax system is currently controversial with the development of the European Union and globalization. Tax competition has risen sharply, and it becomes necessary to take into account the legal possibilities to avoid paying taxes (the practice of expatriation is legal, unlike tax evasion). See also Budget of France Government of France Economy of France Footnotes References [] Further reading