Farmer-general

(farm'ür-.) [Fr. fermier-général.] (Fr. Hist.) In France,before the Revolution, one of a privileged cla of persons who farmed the public taxes; that is to say, they paid into the govt. treasury a fixed annual sum, and then collected the taxes on their own account. In 1728, these contractors became amalgamated into a company, and the oppre ive nature of the taxes it exacted from the people was one of the chief causes which led to the subversion of the monarchy, and with it the extinction of the fermiers-généraux. [s. 356]