British taxation in America?

Question

Why did Britain attempt lighter control and taxation on Americans after 1763 and why did Americans resist these efforts?


=)

Answer 1

To help pay for the navy and to support the various wars against France and the Netherlands (Dutch). The French and Indian War in the colonies was just one such war, the British felt that the people in the colonies should pay for this additional protection. Without representation in British Parliament the Americans rebelled.

The Americans objected to thinks like the dreaded Stamp Tax, and increase in the price of postage stamps and the Tea Tax; which resulted in the Boston Tea Party; a terrorist attack. But, stamps were needed for more than just mail, practically any legal document needed a stamp

The famous line from the colonists "No taxation without representation" showed there ultimate anger. The British lords and ministers voted in new taxes, to make the Americans pay and the Americans had no say in the matter.

This is one of the major events that lead to the American revolt against the British, and the final separation of the two countries.

According to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stamp_tax
"In the United Kingdom, stamp duty is a form of tax charged on instruments (that is, written documents), and requires a physical stamp to be attached to or impressed upon the instrument in question. The more modern versions of the tax no longer require a physical stamp.

The scope of stamp duty has been reduced dramatically in recent years. Apart from transfers of shares and securities, the issue of bearer instruments and certain transactions involving partnerships, stamp duty was largely abolished in the UK from 1 December 2003. Stamp duty land tax (SDLT), a new transfer tax derived from stamp duty, was introduced for land transactions from 1 December 2003. Stamp duty reserve tax (SDRT) was introduced on agreements to transfer certain shares and other securities in 1986.

History of UK stamp duties
Stamp duty was first introduced in the UK in 1694, during the reign of William and Mary under "An act for granting to Their Majesties several duties on Vellum, Parchment and Paper for 4 years, towards carrying on the war against France". Similar duties had been levied in the Netherlands. Stamp duty was so successful that it continues to this day through a series of Stamp Acts.

During the 18th and early 19th centuries, stamp duties were extended to cover newspapers, pamphlets, lottery tickets, apprentices' indentures, advertisements, playing cards, dice, hats, gloves, patent medicines, perfumes, insurance policies, gold and silver plate, hair powder and armorial bearings.

The attempted enforcement of the Stamp Act 1765 in the English colonies in America led to the outcry of no taxation without representation. In some ways, stamp duty led to the American War of Independence."

According to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_tax_resistance#Tax_resistance_during_the_English_Civil_War
"American colonists used various methods of tax resistance to resist the British in the years leading up to the American Revolution, including the Boston Tea Party action, and “spinning bees” in which revolutionary-minded women would make untaxed domestic cloth (prefiguring Gandhi’s homespun cloth campaign) and a boycott of other taxed goods.

See also: American Revolution: Taxation without representation

After the revolution was underway, taxes instituted by the American patriot side were also widely resisted. One 1781 tax in Connecticut, for example, was designed to raise £288,233 but raised only £40,000 due to unwillingness to pay. Some Quaker meetings recommended that their members not pay taxes to the revolutionary governments, and other Quakers refused to use Continental currency which the revolutionary governments were using for seigniorage."

According to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_tea_party
"The Stamp Act of 1765 and the Townshend Acts of 1767 angered colonists regarding British decisions on taxing the colonies despite a lack of representation in the Westminster Parliament. One of the protesters was John Hancock. In 1768, Hancock's ship Liberty was seized by customs officials, and he was charged with smuggling. He was defended by John Adams, and the charges were eventually dropped. However, Hancock later faced several hundred more indictments.

Hancock organized a boycott of tea from China sold by the British East India Company, whose sales in the colonies then fell from 320,000 pounds (145,000 kg) to 520 pounds (240 kg). By 1773, the company had large debts, huge stocks of tea in its warehouses and no prospect of selling it because smugglers, such as Hancock, were importing tea without paying import taxes. The British government passed the Tea Act, which allowed the East India Company to sell tea to the colonies directly and without "payment of any customs or duties whatsoever" in Britain, instead paying the much lower American duty. This tax break allowed the East India Company to sell for lower prices than those offered by the colonial merchants and smugglers.

American colonists, particularly the wealthy smugglers, resented this favored treatment of a major company, which employed lobbyists and wielded great influence in Parliament. Protests resulted in both Philadelphia and New York, but it was those in Boston that made their mark in history. Still reeling from the Hutchinson letters, Bostonians suspected the new Tea Tax was simply another attempt by the British Parliament to squash American freedom. Samuel Adams, wealthy smugglers and others who had profited from the smuggled tea, called for agents and consignees of the East India Company tea to abandon their positions; consignees who hesitated were terrorized through attacks on their warehouses and even their homes."

Answer 2

Britain spent huge sums of money to fight the French and Indian war in North America. This war in Europe was called the Seven Years War. Great Britain needed the money and thought that the colonists should at the very least pay for their own defense. Great Britain and other European nations believed in what is now the discredited theory of mercantilism which was that the colonies existed for the benefit of the mother country. That was another reason that the colonies should pay.

People do not like to pay taxes. The colonists were used to little taxation and British tax laws that were on the books but not enforced. We had not representation in the British Parliament and felt that "taxation without representation was tyranny".

Answer 3

The way I remember it, Britain was increasing taxation at that time to pay off debts from the French and Indian wars.

Answer 4

I think it would have been something else to stir up this turbulent people if not a mere pittance of tax, compared to what taxes are now.

Americans were sick of the Aristocrat's lofty view of them as mere trash, and when that happens -look out rich people! Any pretext will do, when comes to using the Gillotine on an entire class of parasitic people who ride high on the tired backs of others.

Answer 5

the people left britain for a reason and it wasn't to keep letting the british people control them...so of course they resisted...americans still resist outside demands...