Wednesday is tax day, but for thousands of people it will hold a different meaning this year. Protests are planned across the country, including here in Maryland.
Organizers say people are tired of bailouts and stimulus spending, and they're ready to speak out. The protesters will be dumping tea into harbors in Baltimore along with Annapolis.. and they’ll also appear in some places that don't have harbors.
They say the federal government has over-stepped its bounds, and needs to be reined in -- and the only way to do it, they believe, is to reach back to the era before the Revolutionary War.
On December 16th, 1773 outraged colonists in Boston destroyed English tea -- rather than pay taxes on it. Organizers say you can expect a similar scene Wednesday in Annapolis.
‘The bailouts are what was the tipping point for many folks that are going to come out tomorrow, AIG, just the government getting involved in our daily lives,’ said Dave Schwartz of Americans for Prosperity, Maryland.
Right now on Facebook more than 500 people have signed up to attend the tea party in Annapolis -- organizers say they could get more than 2,000. There are 10 more protests around the state -- including land-locked Bel Air, where protesters will bring tea bags, but they'll be asked not to litter.
It's all happening because of what they call huge government spending. ‘What I see in the philosophy of those who are in charge now is that they believe in big government; they believe that government can solve all problems,’ said Dee Hodges of the Maryland Taxpayers Association.
Schwartz said President Obama is only partly to blame. ‘It started before President Obama but now President Obama is also in some cases accelerating this government growth and that's what people are really upset about,’ he said.
Schwartz and Hodges both said they hope protests will spur people to contact their legislators directly -- and call for less spending, and more tax cuts. ‘I don't think this is the last tea party by any means,’ Hodges said.
