Georgiana was not foolish enough to think Napoleon truly did not have a single franc in the treasury. Even if he had none, he could print assignats to pay the soldiers. What troubled him was taxation.
Before the French Revolution, Louis XVI had formed a tax-farming consortium. They built walls around Paris, which had been undefended since Louis XIV, forcing everyone entering the city to pay a tax.
The Bourbon royal family had lost the war, yet taxes remained so high. They even spent money making tax collectors' offices more comfortable, building so-called "city gates." The common people's anger was ignited all at once.
They tore down the "city gates," but left the walls behind as a dividing line between the city and its suburbs.
Some historians believed that, apart from Waterloo, Britain defeated France because of an invention called "income tax." This tax greatly enhanced the government's ability to extract revenue. Combined with Britain's consistently good credit record, it allowed the country to borrow at low interest. France, on the other hand, had appalling credit and could not obtain sufficient revenue through traditional taxes, leaving it no choice but to enslave the people of occupied countries and carry out military plunder.
When Bonaparte occupied Italy, he imposed a "special tax." Other generals followed suit, and they became enormously wealthy almost overnight.
After the Treaty of Amiens was signed, many Britons traveled to France. London's citizens and public opinion unanimously demanded the abolition of income tax, and Addington, as both Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer, complied with the wishes of most members of Parliament and suspended its collection. Later, when Britain declared war on France again, income tax was levied once more.
People hated income tax even more than they hated Napoleon and France. After Waterloo, it was