What Did The Colonies Pay In Taxes?

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(07-04-2019, 07:44 PM)BFritz21 Wrote: I was thinking about this and everyone knows the reason for the war: taxation without representation, but what were the colonies being taxed in?

Did they have silver coins as money that they had to send back?  Were the coins over here the same as they were in England?  When did we get our own coins?

Were they taxed in livestock or crops?  Was it even sent back or was it just collected and kept over here?

Was it not even coins but just silver and gold?

Anybody know?

I would assume the taxes would be paid via currency to the governor/tax collectors/whomever and then they would have some of that currency to spend on their operations (pay soldiers, etc) in the colonies and likely have to spend the rest into shipments of goods back to the UK. Farmers would sell their crops/animals and then pay their taxes with that money.

I know the British wanted the US for furs, lumber, cotton, sugar, molasses, etc.

Pure assumption on my part, but logically makes sense to me. It would be absurd to take currency and ship it to the UK, just for the UK to ship that currency back to the colonies in order to buy goods to ship back to the UK. 

Would be interested to hear if there's an expert on the board who knows for certain.

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EDIT: Did a bit of looking...

https://www.thoughtco.com/why-britain-attempted-tax-american-colonists-1222028

Quote:The Stamp Tax
In February 1765, after only minor complaints from the colonists when the idea was floated due to confusion and disbelief, Grenville’s government imposed the Stamp tax. To him, this was just a slight increase in the process of balancing expenses and regulating the colonies. There was opposition in the British parliament, including Lieutenant Colonel Isaac Barré, whose off the cuff speech made him a star in the colonies and gave them a rallying cry as the “Sons of Liberty”, but not enough to overcome the government vote.

The Stamp Tax was a charge applied on every piece of paper used in the legal system and in the media. Every newspaper, every bill or court paper, had to be stamped, and this was charged for, as were dice and playing cards. The aim was to start small and allow the charge to grow as the colonies grew, and was initially set at two thirds of the British stamp tax. The tax would be important, not just for the income, but for the precedent it would set over sovereignty: Britain would start with a small tax, and maybe one day levy enough to pay for the colonies’ whole defence. The money raised was to be kept in the colonies and spent there. A second act followed, the Quartering Act. This dealt with where troops would be billeted if there were no rooms in barracks, and was watered down after discussions with colonial representatives. Unfortunately, its provisions included costs to the colonists that were open to interpretation as taxes.

Apparently the taxes weren't even enough to pay for the costs of running/defending the colony. So looks like no taxes were sent back to Britain. It was all spent in the colonies.