At first, the British tea was high and plus Parliament put high taxes on the tea so the colonists refused to pay. So instead they smuggled the tea from Holland. So, the British had tons of unsold tea and thought they were going out of business. The British Parliament didn't want the British East India Company to go out of business. So, Parliament passes the Tea Act which allowed the Company to directly sell to the colonists for cheaper than the smuggled tea. This tea was cheaper than the tea they smuggled from Holland because they cut out the merchants. Later on, the British start putting taxes on the tea without consulting anybody. The dock unloaders refused to unload the tea. But the Massachusetts Government made the dockers to unload the tea and that everybody would pay the taxes and duty on the tea.
