A History of Taxation Practices, Section Eight: Taxation and The Boston Tea Party
Posted by Tax Man - 08/12/09 at 01:12 pmW. Marc Gilfillan, CPA, NC, individual and business CPA and Tax expert, shares about the history of taxes…
Ah…. now we have a historical event obviously concerning oppressive taxation. Was the Boston Tea Party a protest concerning the British tax on tea, as we were all taught? No, not one bit. The colonies had continuously been boycotting English tea for five years before to the Boston Tea Party! They had instead smuggled in Dutch tea and were doing quite well. There was tea for all and no British tea tax paid. Naturally, the British didn’t like this boycott. So, the British forgot the duties back home. The Parliament told British tea sellers to disregard the import tax of shipping the tea into England and then transfer the savings along to the colonies when they shipped the tea over and then sold British tea at a price that was lower than the smuggled Dutch tea. If you are feeling the pressure with today’s taxes, call a CPA for Tax Preparation in Raleigh, NC for all your tax-related needs!
But what people would sell this British tea?
They sold it through loyal British merchants in the colonies. But would the colonists buy the cheaper British tea with an included tax? Yes. So much so that the result was loyal British merchants were getting all the business and a taxes were still being paid to England. Obviously the colonists did not mind the tax very much; they ended up getting cheaper tea. BUT, the non-British MERCHANTS didn’t enjoy this process. The British merchants, with the assistance of England, had basically created a monopoly on tea sales. The colony merchants feared it was only a matter of time before additional British enterprises would be established with the same mechanism and they would be forced out of business. Go here if you want help with a modern-day Tax Return in Raleigh, NC.
So, a collection of MERCHANTS who appeared to be Natives, boarded a boat containing British tea and tossed it into the harbor. Was this a crowning peak in American tax protest? Not at all. The Boston Tea Party was looked at as the meaningless destruction of private property at a time when private property was highly regarded. The event was extremely grave and didn’t sit well with the colonies. Ben Franklin was shocked and told the merchants that full restitution would be given immediately to the owners of the tea. Anyway, it turned into war.
However, the colonies would soon realize that masses of warships, legions of redcoats, and cannons were a lot more terrifying than a few tax collectors. The ironic thing is, America won the war, mostly due to the fact that England found it too expensive to fund war so far from home. BUT after the war, America had huge debts and taxes, and even with representation they were enormous.
Keep an eye out for W. Marc Gilfillan’s next chapter in his History of Taxes series: Taxes and Slavery and the Civil War.
http://www.marccpa.com/
