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The Lesson in Tax Law, Part Eight: Taxes and The Boston Tea Party

Raleigh NC Accountant

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

Ah…. finally an event in history obviously about oppressive taxation. Was the Boston Tea Party a protest against the British taxation on tea, as we were all taught? No, not one bit. The colonies had continuously been boycotting English tea for 5 years before to the Boston Tea Party! They had instead 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 didn’t like the boycott. So, the British forgot the duties back home. The Parliament told British tea merchants to disregard the import tax of getting the tea into England and then transfer the savings along to the colonies as they sent the tea over and thereby sold British tea at a price lower than the Dutch smuggled 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 will the colonists take the cheaper British tea even though it had a tax? Yes. So much so that the result was loyal British merchants got all the business and the tax was still be paid to England. However, the colonists didn’t mind the tax very much; they still were getting more inexpensive tea. However, the non-British MERCHANTS did not like the gig. The British merchants, with the assistance of England, had essentially established a monopoly on tea sales. The colonial merchants feared it would only be a matter of time before additional British enterprises would be created 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 group of MERCHANTS dressed up as Indians, boarded a vessel containing British tea and tossed it into the harbor. Was this a shining peak in American tax protest? Nope. The Boston Tea Party was viewed as the wanton desecration of private property at a period when private property was highly regarded. The event was very grave and did not sit well with the colonies. Ben Franklin was shocked and demanded that full restitution would be paid immediately to the owners of the tea. However, it turned into war.

However, the colonies would quickly find that masses of war vessels, legions of soldiers, and cannons were much more terrifying than a few tax collectors. The funny thing is, America did not lose the war, primarily due to the fact that England realized it was too expensive to fund war so far from England. BUT after the war, America faced astounding 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/

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