How did tax exemptions of privileged groups affect state revenue?

Tax burden increasingly fell on the Third Estate

The governing concept is unequal taxation in the French Old Regime. The clergy and nobility enjoyed important privileges, including exemption from many direct taxes, while the Third Estate carried most of the regular fiscal burden. This did not mean that privileged groups paid absolutely nothing, but their exemptions reduced the state’s dependable revenue and made taxation socially unequal. As the monarchy faced debt and rising expenses, it had difficulty raising enough money without asking the Third Estate for more. Therefore option A is correct: the tax burden increasingly fell on peasants, workers, and the bourgeoisie within the Third Estate. Option B is wrong because taxation was not equal, option C falsely says collection stopped, and option D confuses state revenue with the Church’s condition.

This is a Class 9 History question. Chapter: The French Revolution. Topic: French Society During the Late Eighteenth Century.