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 Sugar Act was referred to as the American Revenue Act, which was also American Duties Act. It was passed by the British Parliament in April 1764 to raise funds. Before the Sugar Act, there was also the Molasses Act of 1733, which taxed a minimum of six pence per gallon of molasses. However, this was not done because of a colonial invasion. In order to have a successful collection, the British decided to cut the rate in half and enforce stricter measures to collect tax.