I've mentioned this repeatedly throughout the last year or so, but it's worth repeating given tomorrow's tax day tea party thing, and today's pathetic co-opting of the Boston Tea Party.
But rather than explaining it in the same way I always have, here's opening paragraph from the story of the Tea Act from the Boston Tea Party Historical Society website:
In 1773 the East India Company was one of the strongholds of British economy. Suddenly it found itself at odds with the American non-importation restrictions on tea and with a huge inventory it could not move. The company was not able to meet its payment on dividends and loans and was moving towards bankruptcy. Of course the British government was reluctant to let it happen from fear that this may disrupt financial markets. As an alternative to a direct loan the Ministry decided to allow the company to send tea to America without paying an export duty.
No export duty imposed on the mega-corporation of that era. In other words, a gigantic corporate tax cut. The Boston Tea Party was a protest against the British government's passage of the Tea Act, which allowed the East India Company to undercut the business of small, local tea distributors. Furthermore, the rally cry of "No taxation without representation" wasn't a protest against all taxation -- the slogan was not "No taxation -- period." The Sons of Liberty and other patriots supported fair taxation with adequate representation in Parliament.
So when the modern tea party embraces the Boston Tea Party, they're actually embracing an event that was sparked by a TAX CUT. You know, the words Sarah Palin needed to write on her hand so she wouldn't forget.