Physiocracy and Fiscal Reform: The Chimera of the Impôt Unique

Despite its limited space-time range (France 1756–1777), the physiocratic school has left a decisive mark on the history of economic thought. By investigating the cause and nature of national wealth and the methods to increase it, François Quesnay and the other members of the Physiocracy have identified the agricultural sector as the only source of produit net. Based on this economic theory, they drew up proposals for economic policy aimed at reforming the productive structure of a backward society, perceiving the advantages of a capitalist reorganisation of agriculture. Among the reforms proposed by the Physiocrats, the most radical is perhaps that of the impôt unique on landowners’ rent, replacing the various direct and indirect taxes. Despite its undeniable charm, this proposal was destined to fail, both because of the resistance of the privileged classes that would have been affected, and because of some indisputable “technical” limits.