Equal Protection and Race........................................................................................................ 1839. Overview..............................................................................................................................
Sugar cane plantations in the colonies of the West Indies. The older Sugar and Molasses tax charged the customer a duty of 6 pence per gallon of molasses. The bribe to customs officials per gallon of smuggled molasses was 1.5p. The new Sugar Act lowered the duty to 3p per gallon.
The Stamp Act was passed by the British Parliament on March 22, 1765, one year after the Sugar Act of 1764. The new tax was. imposed because the Sugar Act did not generate enough tax money to cover the cost of defending the colonies. It required them to. pay a tax on every piece of printed paper they used.