1885 Trade Code Amendment. Election reform of 1882 Count Taaffe is mostly remembered for his election reform of 1882, which reduced to 5 guilders the minimum tax base required for men over the age of 24 to vote. Before this reform, the tax base was set locally, but was usually at a considerably higher level, so that only 6% of the male population of Cisleithania had been entitled to vote. However, even after this reform, there were still four classes of voters whose vote counted differently, depending on how much tax an individual was paying. The next election reform was enacted in 1896 by Kasimir Felix Graf Badeni, who succeeded in bringing about more radical reforms than Taaffe had achieved. Policies on nationalities It was Taaffe's great achievement that he persuaded the Czechs to abandon the policy of abstention and to take part in the parliament. It was on the support of them, the Poles, and the Clericals that his majority depended. His avowed intention was to unite the nationalities of Austria: Germans and Slavs were, as he said, equally integral parts of Austria; neither must be oppressed; both must unite to form an Austrian parliament. Notwithstanding the growing opposition of the German Liberals, who refused to accept the equality of the nationalities, he kept his position for thirteen years. Late years In 1893 he was defeated on a proposal for the revision of the franchise and resigned. He retired into private life, and died two years later at his country residence, Ellischau, in Bohemia. Honours Notes Further reading Grandner, Margarete. "Conservative Social Politics in Austria, 1880–1890." Austrian History Yearbook 27 (1996): 77-107. Taylor, A.J.P. The Habsburg Monarchy, 1809–1918: A History of the Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary (1948) pp. 156–68 covers his ministry 1879–93 1833 births 1895 deaths Politicians from Vienna Counts of Austria Viscounts Taaffe Austrian people of Irish descent Constitutional Party (Austria) politicians Ministers-President of Austria Government ministers of Austria Members of the Austrian House of Deputies (1867–1870) Members of the House of Lords (Austria) Governors of Salzburg (state) Members of the Bohemian Diet 19th-century Ministers-President of Austria Knights of the Golden Fleece of Austria Grand Crosses of the Order of Saint Stephen of Hungary Bailiffs Grand Cross of Honour and Devotion of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus Grand Crosses of the Order of the Star