Brought to you by that insidious perverter of American values, that "liberal industry dedicated to slapping feet of clay on the Founders", the Boston Tea Party Historical Society.

Significance of the Tea Act, 1773

It is important to understand that the Tea Act actually placed no new tax on tea. Instead it simply gave a tax break to the East India Tea company.

With the existing tax still on the books from the Townshend Duties, East India Tea company was loosing(sic) money because its legitimately imported tea could not compete with the tea being illegally smuggled by the colonial merchants. Obviously the British government preferred to help the struggling East India Co. than to see colonial smugglers profiting and using their newly gained financial power to sponsor anti-British protests

http://www.boston-tea-party.org/tea-act.html

I highly recommend you study this site carefully before you swallow
uncritically how these events are being twisted today in order to justify certain political positions, to direct and solicit private funding to political causes, or to attack certain political opponents.

This is a great site to help you understand some of the actual dynamics of what was going on in late 18th century colonial America.
Of course, the real truth is no threat to the principles of American History and patriotism, the honor of the founders, nor is it an attempt to whitewash British Imperial ambitions, or British corporate skullduggery, in the New World. It's just history: people wheeling and dealing in changing circumstances.

But it does illustrate how real events and real personalities can be coopted by narrow special interests to push their own agendas by appealing to honest patriotic sentiments and coloring the past so it can be exploited for immediate gain.

The colonists revolted against British Rule because they were being taxed by the Crown without being represented in Parliament, as was their right as British Subjects. That's a long way away from just not liking the taxes your own elected representatives have placed on you.

The Tea Party and their ilk have every right to protest a tax they feel is unfair or excessive. But how dare they wrap themselves in the mantle of the founders to do this? As someone on this forum once pointed out, they (the Tea Partiers) "aren't fit to lick the horse shit off the founder's boots".

And remember what the hippies used to say in the 60's:

John Hancock was a revolutionary, not a fucking insurance company.