Tax deadline brings out thousands of protesters

FRANKFORT, Ky.— Thousands of protesters, some dressed like Revolutionary War soldiers and most waving signs with anti-tax slogans, gathered around the nation Wednesday for a series of rallies modeled after the original Boston Tea Party.
They chose the income tax filing deadline to express their displeasure with government spending since President Barack Obama took office.
The protests were held every-where from Kentucky, which just passed tax increases on cigarettes and alcohol, to South Carolina, where the governor has repeatedly criticized the $787 billion economic stimulus package Congress passed earlier this year.
“Frankly, I’m mad as hell,” said Des Moines, Iowa, businessman Doug Burnett, one of about 1,000 people, many in red shirts declaring “revolution is brewing,” at a rally at the Iowa Capitol. “This country has been on a spending spree for decades, a spending spree we can’t afford.”
Large rallies were expected later in California and New York.
In Atlanta, thousands of people were to gather on the steps of the Georgia Capitol, where Fox News Channel conservative pundit Sean Hannity was set to broadcast his show Wednesday night.
In Boston, a few hundred protesters gathered on the Boston Common — a short distance from the original Tea Party — some dressed in Revolutionary garb and carrying signs that said “Barney Frank, Bernie Madoff: And the Difference Is?” and “D.C.: District of Communism.”
The tea parties were promoted by FreedomWorks, a conservative nonprofit advocacy group based in Washington and led by former Republican House Majority Leader Dick Armey of Texas, a lobbyist whose corporate clients including Veri-zon, Raytheon, liquor maker Diageo, CarMax and drug company Sanofi Pasteur.
The group’s federal tax returns show its educational and charitable arms received more than $6 million in donations in 2007, the most recent year for which returns are available.
Organizers said the movement developed organically through online social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter and through exposure on Fox News.
And while they insisted it was a nonpartisan effort, it has been seized on by many prominent Republicans who view it as a promising way for the party to reclaim its momentum.
“It is a nonpartisan mass organizing effort comprised of people unhappy with the size of government. All you have to be is a mildly awake Republican candidate for office to get in front of that parade,” said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform.