tea act of 1773 was a law made by the parliament of great britain. the law was made to help the east india company which had massive amounts of tea stored in london which they could not sell. the law would make the company's tea cheaper than other tea which was being smuggled into britain's north american colonies. this was supposed to make people buy east india company tea on which the townshend duties were paid, thus implicitly agreeing to accept parliament's right of taxation.