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Why did the British East India Company have so much extra tea?
Saving the East India Company The American consumption of smuggled tea hurt the finances of the East India Company, which was already struggling through economic hardship. In an effort to save the troubled enterprise, the British Parliament passed the Tea Act in 1773.
Why did the British tax tea?
The tax on tea had existed since the passing of the 1767 Townshend Revenue Act. The tea tax was kept in order to maintain Parliament’s right to tax the colonies. The Tea Act was not intended to anger American colonists, instead it was meant to be a bailout policy to get the British East India Company out of debt.
Why was the Tea Act created?
On April 27, 1773, the British Parliament passes the Tea Act, a bill designed to save the faltering East India Company from bankruptcy by greatly lowering the tea tax it paid to the British government and, thus, granting it a de facto monopoly on the American tea trade.
How did the Tea Act affect the British East India Company?
Provisions of the Tea Act. Prior to the Tea Act, the British East India Company Tea was required to exclusively sell its tea at auction in London. This required the British East India Company to pay a tax per pound of tea sold which added to the company’s financial burdens.
Where did the surplus tea go after the Tea Act?
With the passing of the Tea Act, the seventeen million pounds of unsold surplus tea the British East India Company owned could be sold to markets in the American colonies. The tea was to be shipped to the American colonies and sold at a reduced rate. The Townshend Revenue Act tea tax remained in place despite proposals to have it waived.
Why was the Tea Act of 1773 so important?
Because all legal tea entered the colonies through England, allowing the East India Company to pay lower taxes in Britain also allowed it to sell tea more cheaply in the colonies. Even untaxed Dutch tea, which entered the colonies illegally through smuggling, was more expensive the East India tea, after the act took effect.
How did the colonists get the tea back to England?
When three tea ships carrying East India Company tea, the Dartmouth, the Eleanor and the Beaver, arrived in Boston Harbor, the colonists demanded that the tea be returned to England.