 Members of Electoral Colleges had to pay 300 francs a year in direct taxes (Article 40), while Deputies themselves had to pay a direct tax of 1000 Francs a year.As taxes were mainly levied on landed wealth, this restricted the Chamber of Deputies to a very small percentage of the richest landowners.The representative basis of the French parliament under the Charter was thus much narrower than that which had been used to elect the Estates-General under the Ancien Régime.