A Lesson in Tax Practices, Section 8: Tax and The Boston Tea Party
W. 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 about abusive taxation. Was the Boston Tea Party a protest concerning the British tax on tea, as we were told? No, not at all. The colonies had continuously 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. Naturally, the British did not like this boycott. So, the British forgot the duties back home. The Parliament told British tea sellers to avoid the import tax of shipping the tea into England and then transfer the money saved 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 located in the colonies. But will the colonists take the cheaper British tea with an included tax? Yes. They bought so much that what ended up happening was loyal British merchants were getting all the business and the taxes were still being paid to England. However, the colonists did not care about the tax that much; they ended up receiving more inexpensive tea. However, the non-British MERCHANTS didn’t enjoy the process. The British merchants, gaining the assistance of England, had essentially created a monopoly on tea sales. The colony merchants thought it was only a matter of time before many British enterprises would be established 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 Natives, walked on a boat containing British tea and tossed it into the water. Was this a shining moment in American tax protest? Nope. The Boston Tea Party was viewed as the senseless desecration of private property at a time when private property was highly regarded. This event was very looked down upon and didn’t sit well with the colonies. Ben Franklin was abhorred and told the merchants that full repayment would be paid immediately to the owners of the tea. Anyway, it escalated into war.
However, the colonies would quickly learn that masses of war vessels, legions of soldiers, and cannons were much scarier than a few tax collectors. The funny thing is, America didn’t lose the war, mostly due to the fact that England found it too expensive to wage 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/
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