Tax Day Tea Party “Flash Mob” – Coos Bay, Oregon

I don’t usually talk about politics or economics, except as they relate to psychiatric abuse, government funding of the field of psychiatry or big pharma. (Can you really tell those two apart these days?)

But after hearing about it on twitter, I decided to attend the tax day “Tea Party” in Coos Bay, Oregon, on April 15th, held at the main post office, a busy place where many people, including me, were lining up inside to mail off their tax returns to the IRS on their deadline for filing.

Some photos:

Tax Day Tea Party – Coos Bay, Oregon

Tax Day Tea Party – Coos Bay, Oregon

Tax Day Tea Party – Coos Bay, Oregon

I brought some signs I made, one saying, “Abolish the IRS” and one saying “Taxed Enough Already” – both promoting the Fair Tax. Note that’s not the “flat tax” which is anything but, and which, if implemented, would keep the IRS intact.

My personal view is that the power the IRS has to pry into anyone’s personal finances is invasive and punitive in itself. Just being audited (as I have been) is itself a major hassle; having to explain why you deducted certain things and exactly what you spent your money on is an intolerable invasion of our privacy. Why do we let the IRS get away with it? (Answer: because they’ll fine you if you don’t, and seize your assets to collect.)

Tax dodges and loopholes need to be closed; the Fair Tax would do that. As Will Rogers was reputed to say: “The income tax has made liars out of more Americans than golf.” As the recent spate of Obama’s various nominees with tax problems has proven, even our government officials are having a hard time navigating the tax code, figuring out what to report and how to file it seems to involve more of a crystal ball than an easy reference.

The record-keeping requirements and the time spent filing tax returns is a monumental waste of everyone’s time. Our pioneer forefathers would have revolted at the idea. They would not have believed that we would put up with it. Of course it all started small, with the 16th Amendment to the Constitution, put in place to finance the WWI, with a top tax rate of some ridiculously low percent (1%?). I can’t remember. That’s certainly changed, and the tax code is now a behemoth that no one individual can actually read and understand, much less comply with. I believe that the 16th amendment should be repealed, just as Prohibition was repealed.

I’m in favor of a national sales tax to REPLACE the IRS. That way all sales get taxed. If you don’t want to be taxed, don’t spend your money. It will encourage people to save money, which is a good thing. It will exempt some things (food and medicine chief among them) from sales tax, as some things are currently exempted from taxes. But how simple is that? Even the money made from illegal drugs will get taxed when it is spent. There’s several billion dollars worth of income that never gets reported!

According to various reports, about 800 such Tax Day Tea Parties were held around the country, and none of them were organized by a political party or special interest group, but by grass roots activists. No political leaders spoke here in Coos Bay. The reporters were wandering around trying to find out who was in charge — and no one was! A very nice reporter lady interviewed me, and the point I tried to make was that people were pissed off and unhappy with representatives who don’t represent us.

Some of the memorable signs being carried around at the event said:

“Don’t Tax Me BO!”

“Abolish the IRS”

“Stop Taxing My Grandkids!”

“Taxed Enough Already”

“Honk if You Hate Taxes”

I estimate about 400 people showed up at the event. It was pretty crowded in places – hardly any room to walk on the sidewalk. But it was a friendly and enthusiastic crowd, with people cheering whenever someone honked as they drove by, expressing their support. It lasted about two hours. When I left, I turned my signs over to a couple of others who were staying.

The crowd was chanting “Abolish the IRS” at times, which made me feel pretty good to know that there’s at least SOME support, somewhere, for that notion.

There’s talk about another Tea Party on July 4th. If they have it, I will go!