Why did colonists object to the tea act? because it would aid a different part of the empire than their own, colonists felt that this was the kind of discriminatory action that violated the concept of liberty. it granted a monopoly, and the colonists opposed all forms of monopoly. the british east india company made inferior tea, and colonists preferred not to drink it. it raised the tax on tea so much as to make tea prohibitively expensive. by paying it, they would be acknowledging great britain's right to tax the colonists?