totalwar23 on 16 April 2009
The Tea Act did not put any tax on tea. It allowed the East India Company to sell their tea directly to the American colonies because they had a huge surplus they could not unload. The tax on tea was in the Townshend Duties, which was passed in 1767. Colonists responded by boycotting, which forced Parliament to repeal everything but the tax on tea. The American colonists then just merely smuggled tea in but in places like Boston, they were importing tea with the tax in place. The Tea Act actually allowed the taxed tea to be sold cheaper than smuggled tea. Now why exactly would the colonies be okay with the tea tax for several years, and then explode into outrage because of the tax on tea after the Tea Act?
