A History of Tax Practices, Part Eight: Tax and The Boston Tea Party

Raleigh NC CPA

W. Marc Gilfillan, CPA, NC, individual and business CPA and Tax expert, shares about the history of taxes…

Ah…. finally a historical event clearly concerning oppressive taxation. Was the Boston Tea Party a protest concerning the British taxation on tea, as we were all taught? No, not one bit. The colonies had already been boycotting English tea for 5 years prior to the Boston Tea Party! Instead, they smuggled in Dutch tea and were doing quite well. There was tea for anyone who wanted it and no British tea tax paid. Obviously, the British did not like the boycott. So, the British forgot the duties at home. The Parliament allowed British tea merchants to avoid the import tax of shipping the tea to England and then pass the savings along to the colonies when they shipped the tea over and thereby sold British tea at a price that was lower than the smuggled Dutch tea. If you’re feeling the pressure with today’s taxes, call a CPA for Tax Preparation in Raleigh, NC for all your tax-related needs!

But who would sell this British tea?

They did it through loyal British merchants in the colonies. But would the colonists take the cheaper British tea even though it included a 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 receiving more inexpensive tea. However, the non-British MERCHANTS didn’t enjoy this process. The British merchants, with the assistance of England, had basically established a monopoly on tea sales. The native merchants thought it would only be a matter of time before more monopolies would be created with an identical 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 Indians, boarded a ship containing British tea and dumped it into the water. Was this a shining moment in American tax protest? No, it wasn’t. The Boston Tea Party was viewed as the wanton destruction of private property at a time when private property was viewed as very important. This event was extremely looked down upon and did not sit well with the colonists. Ben Franklin was abhorred and demanded that complete restitution would be given immediately to the owners of the tea. However, it escalated into war.

However, the colonies would soon find that fleets of war vessels, battalions of redcoats, and cannons were a lot more terrifying than a few tax collectors. The ironic thing is, America won the war, primarily 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 going to be huge.

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/