Oregon Public Broadcasting

A national protest against taxes was well represented in the Northwest.  Dozens of communities in Oregon, Washington and Idaho were sites for so-called “Tax Day Tea Parties” Wednesday.  Salem correspondent Chris Lehman reports from an event at the capitol.

The protests were loosely based on the 1773 Boston Tea Party.  Barbara Haydon of Salem was one of many in the crowd with tea bags dangling from her glasses.

Damon Clute of Sublimity sports a tea bag while holding up a protest sign during a rally at the Oregon State Capitol.

Barbara Haydon:  “There were two little kids over here with their dad in a wagon, and they were selling tea bags for 50 cents, so I bought one.”

Even though capitalism is not dead for those kids, Haydon said she’s worried that the free market system in the U.S. is on the way out.

Barbara Haydon:  “Big government is just sucking all the money and the life out of us as a country.”

The protests were fueled by conservative cable television and talk radio hosts.  

A group of counter-demonstrators urged lawmakers to raise corporate income taxes to pay for social services.