Let's start with the Sugar Act. This tax certainly did upset many colonists. By putting a tax on the importation of sugar and molasses, this act threatened the thriving rum manufacturing business in New England. What irked many was that this act was passed by Parliament, a legislative body in which the colonists had no representation. Overall, though, this tax did not illicit a united protest from the colonies as only a small population of colonists were directly affected by it. There had been taxes on commerce for a long time in the colonies. Most colonists were used to having to pay some sort of tax on certain items.
The Stamp Act took things even further and, as the question suggests, elicited a very strong reaction from the colonists. As a tax on anything printed, colonists saw this as putting a price tag on free speech and any form of official business. Since all colonists relied on the dissemination of written works, used contracts, and so forth, this was seen as a real burden foisted upon them. Furthermore, the payment of this new tax was required in hard currency (gold and silver) rather than paper money, making it even more odious. To make it even more distasteful, violators of this act were tried by the Admiralty, rather than in front of a jury. All this was seen by many as an assault on the freedoms that they had come to expect as English subjects. For that reason, widespread and fervent protests broke out throughout the colonies.
https://m.landofthebrave.info/sugar-act-stamp-act.htm
The Sugar Act was a major annoyance to colonial merchants, many of whom correctly saw it as an attempt to exercise greater control over trade in Britain's North American colonies. There had been similar regulations in place for many years, but they had never been enforced, and the Sugar Act was. Another objectionable aspect to the law was that its violators—American smugglers—would be tried in British admiralty courts rather than in front of juries of their peers. This was a violation, in the minds of many, of a time-honored principle in British common law. At the same time, the Sugar Act was a trade regulation, called at the time an "external tax" on imported goods, and most colonists acknowledged the right of Parliament to pass such regulations.
The Stamp Act, to many colonists, was different. It was an internal tax—a tax on goods consumed within the colonies and not imported goods. Colonial writers drew this distinction and argued that the Stamp Act, as an internal tax, was a violation of their rights as British subjects. They were not represented in Parliament and therefore had no say in their own taxation. It should also be noted that the Stamp Act was viewed as an escalation in light of the Sugar Act. Some colonists began to wonder if a conspiracy was afoot. For these reasons, the angry protests touched off by the Stamp Act were widespread and, in some places, violent. After the Stamp Act, the colonists continued to deny the right of Parliament to legislate internal taxes, and by 1774, some radicals were questioning the authority of Parliament to legislate for the colonies at all.
http://www.stamp-act-history.com/sugar-act/1764-april-5-sugar-act/
https://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/stamp-act
The Stamp Act was signed into effect by the British Parliament on March 22, 1765. This taxation law was the first direct taxation that American colonists experienced from the British government. The Stamp Act directly taxed colonial literature and other printed materials. This taxation created an uproar because it directly affected the spread of ideas, came with a harsh penalty for not paying, and increased already immensely high tensions between colonists and the British. This Stamp Act directly contributed to the growing tensions that led to the American Revolutionary War as it was an example of taxation without representation. The Sugar Act was an indirect tax that was not as sharply felt as the directly taxed Stamp Act. Colonists were already angry with the British government for reasons related to representation and lack of support for westward expansion. This act sealed the revolutionary deal for many colonists.
The Stamp Act was notable—not to say, notorious—for being the first internal tax levied directly on the American colonists by the British government. The Act imposed a tax on all printed matter including books, newspapers, and legal documents. The British had incurred substantial debts in their prosecution of the Seven Years' War and the Stamp Act was designed as a measure to help pay some of them back. But the new legislation provoked huge controversy among the American colonists. For one thing, it was perceived as a tax on free speech. The dissemination of ideas through books, pamphlets, and newspapers was widespread in the colonies and was a cherished feature of American public life.
Moreover, opponents of the Stamp Act took exception to what they saw as the apparatus of repression that its implementation involved. Those found guilty of breaking the new law would be denied the right to trial by jury. To many, this was an intolerable attack upon Americans' liberties and hinted darkly at further such violations in the future.
The Sugar Act, though also a highly controversial measure, didn't provoke the same measure and intensity of opposition as the Stamp Act. The main reason for this is that it involved indirect taxation, which was by no means a radical innovation. The actual substance of the Sugar Act may well have been contentious, but the form which it took—indirect taxation—was a normal feature of trade in the American colonies. The Sugar Act imposed duties on goods; the Stamp Act imposed a direct tax on colonists. Hence the greater degree of anger and hostility leveled at the latter measure in comparison with the former.
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