It’s that time of year again — tax season! Some people dread it; some people (like me), who think of the tax refund as a bonus, love it, even if it was my own money to begin with. Either way, taxes can’t be completely avoided — we all pay taxes.
While the majority of Americans may not know what their tax money is being used for, most of us know that taxes caused the American Revolution — the colonists fought against taxation without representation. The straw that broke the camel’s back for the Revolutionary War was taxation on tea (the Boston Tea Party). Many people (at least my generation) don’t know much more about how or why our anti-tax nation came to have so many taxes. We were not given history or explanations about the current taxes we deal with every day. There has to be more to the story than just a bunch of angry men throwing bales of tea into the river, right? How did we get from there to here? Let me explain.
The Navigation Acts (1651–1696): Commodities (sugar, rice, tobacco, etc.) bound for the colonies had to go through England first in order to be inspected and taxed, which raised the price for colonists.
The Sugar Act (1764): An extension of the Molasses Act of 1733, a tax on molasses was actually reduced, but heaver restrictions were imposed on where molasses (along with other goods) could be imported and exported, resulting in the colonists paying more in taxes.
The Stamp Act (1765): A tax was imposed on all printed material — legal documents, newspapers, books, pamphlets, etc. — in order to pay for the “protection” of the colonists by the British. This act is said to be the beginning of ill sentiment toward the British.
The Townshend Act (1767): Taxes were imposed on imported glass, lead, paper, and tea. Colonists became enraged and all taxes (except tea) were repealed in 1770.
The Tea Act (1773): The East India Trading Company gained complete control of the importation/exportation of tea (a monopoly), which in effect put many tea merchants in the colonies out of business. This resulted in colonists rebelling by preventing ships from unloading, leaving imported tea to rot on the docks, and even destroying tea by tossing it overboard – the Boston Tea Party.
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