Nicolas Desmaretz, marquis de Maillebois (10 September 1648,

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

– 4 May 1721,

) was a

Controller-General of Finances The Controller-General or Comptroller-General of Finances (french: Contrôleur général des finances) was the name of the minister in charge of finances in France from 1661 to 1791. It replaced the former position of Superintendent of Finances ('' ...

during the reign of

Louis XIV of France , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of ...

Desmaretz was a nephew of Jean-Baptiste Colbert. Taken out of school at age 15 to work in his uncle's offices as Controller-General of Finances, he rose to become an

intendant of finances An intendant (; pt, intendente ; es, intendente ) was, and sometimes still is, a public official, especially in France, Spain, Portugal, and Latin America. The intendancy system was a centralizing administrative system developed in France. In ...

in 1678 and his uncle's principal assistant in 1683. He was exiled in December 1683 shortly after Colbert's death, however, after being accused of taking bribes and kickbacks in a government contract to mint money. After returning to Paris in 1686, Desmaretz wrote a series of memoranda for his family members who were still in the government recommending new tax policies in the face of the deplorable economic situation of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. Desmaretz was made director of finances in 1703 and replaced

Michel Chamillart Michel Chamillart or Chamillard (2 January 1652 – 14 April 1721) was a French statesman, a minister of King Louis XIV of France. Chamillart was born in Paris of a family recently raised to the nobility. Following the usual career of a state ...

as controller general in 1708. Desmaretz undertook several policies aimed at restoring France's financial status while in office, including postponing repayment of loans, securing lower interest rates on certain loans, creating a royal lottery, devaluing metal currency, and instituting a ten percent tax on the income produced by property ownership in 1710. Desmaretz was working on a method for repaying France's debts when Louis XIV died on 1 September 1715. He was dismissed from office after Louis XIV's death that year. His son Jean-Baptiste Francois Desmaretz, Marquis de Maillebois became a

Marshal of France Marshal of France (french: Maréchal de France, plural ') is a French military distinction, rather than a military rank, that is awarded to generals for exceptional achievements. The title has been awarded since 1185, though briefly abolished ( ...

in 1741.

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