Anti-Tax 'Tea Parties' Draw Wrong Lesson From History

(SILVERTON, Ore.) - Political operatives in Oregon and across the country planning "Tea Parties" to protest taxes and the public structures they support would get a failing grade in history class, according to the Oregon Center for Public Policy.

Misunderstood by many, the real Boston Tea Party of 1773 was a protest not against taxation but against a tax cut for a multinational corporation of the day.

"The protesters have a distorted view of history and today's tax reality," said OCPP executive director Chuck Sheketoff. "An action more in the spirit of the real Boston Tea Party would be a protest against tax loopholes that allow profitable corporations in Oregon and nationally to avoid paying their fair share of income taxes."

The Boston Tea Party, in which American colonists dumped British tea into Boston Harbor, was an act of defiance against the Tea Act of 1773, which gave a tax break to the British East India Company. As noted by the Boston Tea Party Historical Society, the tax break was an effort by the British Crown to help the East India Company establish a tea monopoly in the American colonies.

Yet the "Tea Parties" scheduled for later this month in Oregon won't be protesting tax breaks for corporations but instead will vent against taxation and government spending.

"Sam Adams and the other American patriots must be rolling in their graves," said Sheketoff. "Political operatives have transformed a story of the people standing up to a government that caters to powerful corporate interests into a message that serves the interest of the well connected and well heeled."

That message ignores how tax-supported public structures create economic opportunity, according to Sheketoff. "Good schools, roads and libraries, access to health care and courthouses -- these are the basic building blocks of strong communities and a healthy economy," he said.

The planned protests are also blind as to who has benefited from the drive to cut taxes over the past few decades, according to Sheketoff.

"As corporations and wealthy individuals have shed their tax responsibilities, working families and small businesses have been forced to pick up the slack," said Sheketoff.

According to OCPP, while profitable corporations in the mid-1970s paid 18.5 percent of all Oregon income taxes, their share is projected to be just 6 percent during the 2009-11 biennium. Sheketoff said that, contrary to the claims of the Tea Party protest organizers, levels of spending and taxes in Oregon have not been going up.

He also noted that, as a share of income, the wealthiest Oregonians pay the lowest amount of taxes (state and local combined) of any income group.

"Working families have reason to be upset," said Sheketoff, "but they would be better off protesting against tax breaks and loopholes that favor the powerful and in favor of a more just tax structure."

The Oregon Center for Public Policy is a non-partisan research institute that does in-depth research and analysis on budget, tax and economic issues. The Center's goal is to improve decision making and generate more opportunities for all Oregonians.

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Will Blackman May 5, 2009 11:39 am (Pacific time)

will April 19, 2009 12:00 am (Pacific time) You really misunderstood what these rallies are about.We as a FREE people do not wan't our government to BUY control of our lives.We understand that idealogies like CO2 being toxic are only going to cripple our lives and make every day life a criminal act.We understand that our new president has signed UN mandates that disarm us and co-opts our children into a worldview that we will be criminalised for if we stand up against it.Wake up and speak the truth or at least garner up enough courage to seek out the truth about what the people you elected really believe.It is easy enough to hear it from their own mouth. These people have every reason to be concrened.And anyone who says different is an ignorant fool and a F***n coward,make sure your not that fool. Editor: A coward? You must mean for not speaking up while Bush trashed the United States for the last eight years? I see, you're right, it is amazing that he took the nation from having a balanced budget under Clinton, farther into debt than we'll possibly ever recover from. So, you're right that people should be very concerned about what they allowed to happen in this country. I'm sure you'll agree that the saddest part is the whole "angry white man" crowd waiting until Obaba took office to raise their voices. They let hundreds of thousands of my American brothers and sisters be shipped off to Iraq for no reason, thousands killed, and they said exactly jack squat. Then before the new President has been in office for three months, they take to the streets in protest. Man it makes no sense to me. On the bright side, at least they're putting the tax structure back where it was so the rich can pay their share. Pretty standard tactic.You distract from the subject at hand and go of on some assumtive rant.What i think about bush is none of your bussiness and would probably make you look foolish if you found out.Try this,Instead of assuming you know what the Tea party people are all about by mish mashing other peoples stories together.Go out and talk to them objectively.Take off your anti bush anti health,anti conservative anti anything else you don't agree with glasses.I am sorry you think Obama is some kind of gloriuos robin hood who will stand up for the huddled masses.People who are protesting his actions do it becuase they believe he is going to do what he says.And any thinking person can tell based on his own words that he intends some sort of socialistic government.Probably alot more far reaching than even you will feel comfortable with when it's all said and done.Unlike your blindness for Obama i (we)don't blindly follow anyone. I stongly suggest you study our founding fathers in depth before you use them in your hak story.I think you will find the condemn not only your view but Our governments present view also. Racebaiting is idiotic.Take your little angry white man line and stuff it in the stupid file.Can you do anything without making presumptions about the people your talking about. What if i am an angry black man!

Will May 5, 2009 8:20 am (Pacific time)

Sam Adams:
"The natural liberty of man is to be free from any superior power on Earth, and not to be under the will or legislative authority of man, but only to have the law of nature for his rule."

"For if our Trade may be taxed, why not our Lands? Why not the Produce of our Lands & everything we possess or make use of? This we apprehend annihilates our Charter Right to govern & tax ourselves. It strikes at our British privileges, which as we have never forfeited them, we hold in common with our Fellow Subjects who are Natives of Britain. If Taxes are laid upon us in any shape without our having a legal Representation where they are laid, are we not reduced from the Character of free Subjects to the miserable State of tributary Slaves"

I assure you it is utterly foolish for a so called journalist to quote our founding fathers.They would have called out you and Obama for what you are.

youpeople May 5, 2009 7:22 am (Pacific time)

Um,people are upset becuase the overnment is creating a monopoly using our money and indebting us for life.If the founding fathers where alive most of our current government would be tried for treason....They were not as stupid as you make them out to be...

Anonymous April 20, 2009 6:11 am (Pacific time)

Thanks for this article and for your responses to these posts. I'm so grateful to still have thoughtful, cogent articles like this in the landscape of opinion-dominated, outrage-without-thought peddling news shows. Keep it up.

will April 19, 2009 12:00 am (Pacific time)

You really misunderstood what these rallies are about.We as a FREE people do not wan't our government to BUY control of our lives.We understand that idealogies like CO2 being toxic are only going to cripple our lives and make every day life a criminal act.We understand that our new president has signed UN mandates that disarm us and co-opts our children into a worldview that we will be criminalised for if we stand up against it.Wake up and speak the truth or at least garner up enough courage to seek out the truth about what the people you elected really believe.It is easy enough to hear it from their own mouth.
These people have every reason to be concrened.And anyone who says different is an ignorant fool and a F***n coward,make sure your not that fool.

Editor: A coward? You must mean for not speaking up while Bush trashed the United States for the last eight years? I see, you're right, it is amazing that he took the nation from having a balanced budget under Clinton, farther into debt than we'll possibly ever recover from. So, you're right that people should be very concerned about what they allowed to happen in this country. I'm sure you'll agree that the saddest part is the whole "angry white man" crowd waiting until Obaba took office to raise their voices. They let hundreds of thousands of my American brothers and sisters be shipped off to Iraq for no reason, thousands killed, and they said exactly jack squat. Then before the new President has been in office for three months, they take to the streets in protest. Man it makes no sense to me. On the bright side, at least they're putting the tax structure back where it was so the rich can pay their share.

Daniel Johnson April 17, 2009 11:56 am (Pacific time)

I just shake my head when people complain about the government. It's the same here in Canada. THE GOVERNMENT IS US. If you don't feel you are being represented or served, then stop electing the same aholes. People get the government they deserve.

Stephen Godwin April 17, 2009 10:23 am (Pacific time)

Yes Bostonians tossed tea in the harbor, becase Britian created a targeted tax cut for one of their own companies, but the writer of this article misses on a glaring fact. This action by Bostonians was a flash point in an already kindling fire that covered the span of many years of built up frustration over being taxed and under-represented. The common phrase of the time says it all "No Taxation Without Representation!" Bostonians were tossing the tea from that ship in the harbor, because the ship epitomized that fact. That is what the recent "Tea Party" was all about. There is a growing sentiment in America that the U.S. government does not care about fairly representing their interests when it comes to taxation and spending.

Editor: Of course Stephen you realize that this has taken place for two Presidential terms, obscene and perverse abuse of government funds under Bush so big and broad you could probably never tabulate all of them. So, now that we have our first black President in history, which I believe should represent a point of healing for America, here you guys are, THREE MONTHS INTO HIS CAMPAIGN with signs calling him a Socialist. Well I have news for you, everyone that displays that crap is full of the same thing. How do I know? Well I interviewed the damned Socialist Party, that's how. Obama is not a Socialist and Bush is not a Nazi or Fascist; each statement has a similar amount of accuracy, but not enough. Everything you protest, everything you criticize, was done by the past president, not the current one. I suppose it's just easier to wait for the black guy to take office before you become regimented government critics, is that it? Did you know that Bush's grandfather did have close ties with the Nazi Party? The U.S. government did not fairly represent the interests of American people, with the exception of the rich, for the last eight years. Flagrant, ridiculous abuses of our money are what we're talking about. A war based on lies, where were you then? Did you get out your signs? No, that wasn't in keeping with the G.W. Bully club was it.

Daniel Johnson April 16, 2009 3:57 pm (Pacific time)

DJ: I made no reference to debt, but as I am the only foreigner posting here, I have to assume your comments are directed at me. Queen? Puppet government? There are good reasons why America is disliked and disrespected by many in the world and you're one of those reasons. You're arrogant and have little or no knowledge of the world outside your borders.

DJ April 16, 2009 10:14 am (Pacific time)

Didn't the queen recently shut down your puppet government when you guys tried to take out your PM? If you're not from america, why would you care how high our debt goes? You are not responsible to pay it.

Daniel Johnson April 16, 2009 12:03 am (Pacific time)

To Paul Henry: I think there is some substance to your post even if I don't quite get your point. As a Canadian (an outsider) who was not brought up on the mythology of how America was established, I see things differently from those who were brought up on that mythology from the time they could speak. America’s Founding Fathers, men like Madison, Jefferson, and Washington, were products of an aristocratic society. They did not make a revolution in order to establish democracy. On the contrary, they wanted to remain aristocrats. But, like Mikhail Gorbachev in the old Soviet Union, they wanted to reform an oppressive system without fundamentally changing it. They were not successful at reform, and, like Gorbachev’s Soviet Union, the entire social system of the gentry to which they belonged was swept away by the social forces they helped set in motion. So completely was the gentry’s conservative social system rejected, that the citizens who followed them were able to mythologize them as revolutionary democrats which they were not.

tj April 15, 2009 11:03 am (Pacific time)

to paul henry, what is wrong with you? it is people like you in society that need to be secluded from the rest. stick up for your damn country, if you havent noticed we are dealing with alot of issues, and we are not going to spend our way out of it.

Esteban April 15, 2009 4:26 pm (Pacific time)

Do you left wingers at Salem-News.com really, honestly, not understand that the "tea party" was a simply a metaphor and not intended to emulate "the real Boston Tea Party of 1773". You can look up the big words I used if you are really as ignorant as you appear. Also, do you believe that Obama didn't bow to the King of Saudi Arabia because Gibb's (White House Press Secretary) said he didn't?? Here it is: you decide. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WlqW6UCeaY First time a president of the U.S. has ever bowed to a king. No citizen of the U.S. bows to a King. Get real people!

Upbeat April 15, 2009 2:49 pm (Pacific time)

What the Tea Parties are about... I'm originally from Sonoma County in California until I was able to transfer out of state in my employment. Democrats have governed California the way Democrats always govern. They bought the votes of government workers with taxpayer-funded jobs, salaries and benefits -- and then turned around and accused the productive class of "greed" for wanting not to have their taxes raised through the roof. Having run out of things to tax, now the California legislature is considering a tax on taxes. Seriously. The only way out now for California is a tax on Botox and steroids. Sure, the governor will protest, but it is the best solution ... California was, in fact, a laboratory of Democratic policies. The rabbit died, so now Obama is trying it on a national level. In time all this government spending will cause higher taxes and fees, and most likely the mother of all inflation. That's what the tea parties are about.

Krystina April 15, 2009 2:26 pm (Pacific time)

It doesn't matter who gets a return and who has to pay, the federal income tax is unconstitutional and it is a direct tax. It is what we sought to break away from- the central banks (federal reserve). The federal reserve is nothing more than private bankers who loan the money to the government on INTEREST and our $ go to paying off that interest, while the federal reserve isn't even needed. I think this column is focusing on the wrong thing, picking and choosing discrediting the people who are protesting this. Tea party is only a label for the movement and whether or not this simiulates the boston tea party is beside the issue here.

scott April 15, 2009 2:21 pm (Pacific time)

I can't figure out who wrote this article. Salem-News.com, I guess.

Editor: This was a release from the Oregon Center for Public Policy. It should have been noted as such, sorry about that. We did take our TV camera to the tea party today at the state capitol and that report is forthcoming.

Lipton April 15, 2009 1:46 pm (Pacific time)

I like most people get pretty confused when I fill out my taxes and must admit every time I send off my checks I wonder if it was enough and will I be getting a state or IRS audit in the future? But there is some info regarding taxes the public should know: :"A very small number of taxpayers -- the 10% of the country that makes more than $92,400 a year -- pay 72.4% of the nation's income taxes. They're the tip of the triangle that's supporting virtually everyone and everything. Their burden keeps getting heavier. As a result of the 2001 tax cuts enacted by a bipartisan Congress and signed by President George W. Bush, the share of taxes paid by the top 10% increased to 72.8% in 2005 from 67.8% in 2001, according to the latest data from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Contrary to the myth that Mr. Bush cut taxes only for the wealthy, the 2001 tax cut reduced taxes for every income-tax payer in the country. He reduced the bottom tax rate to 10% from 15% and increased the refundable child tax credit to $1,000 from $500 per child, both cuts that President Barack Obama says we should keep. In so doing, millions of lower income taxpayers were removed from the tax rolls, shifting the remaining burden to those at the top, even after their taxes were cut." All above verified by CBO. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123958260423012269.html

JoeOregon April 15, 2009 12:49 pm (Pacific time)

The tax protesters are today’s Sons of Liberty. For those of you who dare fight the mainstream news media, this slanted publican, and our socialist President, you stand in the shadow of: Paul Revere, Thomas Young, Joseph Warren, Alexander McDougall, Patrick Henry, John Hancock, Isaac Sears, John Lamb, James Otis, Marinus Willett, John Adams and the leader of them all Samuel Adams.

tj April 15, 2009 11:10 am (Pacific time)

to paul henry, what is wrong with you? it's people like you in society that should be secluded from the rest. we have so many issues in america right now, and spending, spending, spending will not get us out of this mess. oh yeah and one more thing, i always thought that hollywood was in cal., but since obama got voted in, it seems like hollywood shifted to the east coast (oh my god, look at obamas new dog BOW!!!)come on people, serious issues are going on!!!!!

Henry Ruark April 15, 2009 11:09 am (Pacific time)

To all: "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion;but not his own facts." --Daniel Patrick Moynihan, famed conservative economist. Facts on "tea party" action are as reported previously. Here's another "see with own eyes"' use link to do so, then "evaluate with own mind" re who is pushing this, why they do so, who pays for it, who gains in dollars. Taxes are being cut for 95% of all Americans, with further savings in federal programs where that can be accomplished without hurting action to end fiscal/financial crisis. See for yourselves: www.americanprogressaction.org Tea Baggers Against Obama While Americans across the country prepare to pay their taxes today, many right-wing activists plan to spend the day dressed in colonial tri-corner hats as they wave tea bags in the air. Conservatives are calling for these "tea party" protests, allegedly modeled on the Boston Tea Party, to oppose President Obama and to denounce taxes. Though the "tea" in tea party supposedly stands for "Taxed Enough Already," no American household or business will face higher taxes this tax day. In fact, the economic stimulus package signed into law by Obama enacted one of the largest tax cuts ever for middle-class families, making good on Obama's campaign promise to cut taxes for 95 percent of Americans. The first benefits from these cuts arrived in paychecks earlier this month. What's more, a recent Gallup poll found that Americans' views of income taxes are among the most positive since 1956. In his budget proposal, Obama has recommended raising the top income tax brackets back to rates under the Clinton administration and closing corporate loopholes, two issues he campaigned on, in order to strengthen America's economy by funding health care, clean energy, and education reform. Well-heeled corporate lobbyists are helping engineer today's "tea party" protests as an act of opposition to the Obama agenda. ---------------------- Do not be deluded by corporate-paid right/wing radicals highjacking our own American Revolution to assist corporate interests clearly combined with Far Right leadership.

Leroy Clock USAF (ret') April 15, 2009 10:57 am (Pacific time)

What was confusing about Paul Henry's post? All you guys can do is throw it back. You have no original insults so you mimic like a parrot, "You're racist". OK, just know that you characters aren't fooling anyone. Nobody of any serious stature is part of your little pack of confused miscreants. Just remember that life is short and you are here to help the common man, not rally for the top two percent of the richest Americans. Seriously, I know you guys. You will leave this event in your Pinto's and beat up hulks and all the while fly your little Bush stickers. Sick, sad people, that's all I have to say. Go get 'em Paul Henry, you are on target!

ToPaulHenry: April 15, 2009 10:36 am (Pacific time)

You are a racist. Thank God you make no sense with your tirade.

Paul Henry April 15, 2009 10:05 am (Pacific time)

This thing's a geek faire at best, a weak willed whiner factory. Someone tell me, don't they realize that the men they were all trying to emulate were slave owners anyway? I'm sure that doesn't bother this crowd, in fact I suspect you'd be challenged to count the number of minority people in attendance. I think you could do it all on one hand. Pouty, white whiners who don't want to pay their taxes or help the common man or a new President get things right. You guys are being laughed at by all serious people.

laura April 15, 2009 9:59 am (Pacific time)

The Boston Tea Party is a great example showing that americans have a right to protest.It is not just one sided as you seem to think,and was a way to protest against many taxes.

Lipton April 15, 2009 9:59 am (Pacific time)

These Tea Parties are absolutely great. It's too bad it could not be held on a weekend, then I could attend. As I am sure most of you know approximately 50% of the workers out there pay no income taxes. From what I've read and seen from the "man in the street interviews", most said it was not really about taxes but the direction the government is taking us with their high debt spending. If high government spending was a cure to a recession/depression then Zimbabwe would be the richest country on the planet instead of one of the poorest. Even Sweden is cutting their individual income tax rates to get more people involved in the job market because not working over there is not so bad because of their socialistic policies. Ironic. Expect this movement to grow, and the FOX network has nothing to do with this movement, though glad they are reporting on it because the other networks have sure minimized their coverage. I wonder why? It's amazing how some people out there think people in these types of movements are lemmings, these are very smart individuals who have legitimate concerns.

Richard Peters April 15, 2009 9:11 am (Pacific time)

The truth on the Boston Tea Party;Victory in the French and Indian War was costly for the British. At the war's conclusion in 1763, King George III and his government looked to taxing the American colonies as a way of recouping their war costs. They were also looking for ways to reestablish control over the colonial governments that had become increasingly independent while the Crown was distracted by the war. Royal ineptitude compounded the problem. A series of actions including the Stamp Act (1765), the Townsend Acts (1767) and the Boston Massacre (1770) agitated the colonists, straining relations with the mother country. But it was the Crown's attempt to tax tea that spurred the colonists to action and laid the groundwork for the American Revolution. Colonialists attack, tar and feather a hapless tax collector The colonies refused to pay the levies required by the Townsend Acts claiming they had no obligation to pay taxes imposed by a Parliament in which they had no representation. In response, Parliament retracted the taxes with the exception of a duty on tea - a demonstration of Parliament's ability and right to tax the colonies. In May of 1773 Parliament concocted a clever plan. They gave the struggling East India Company a monopoly on the importation of tea to America. Additionally, Parliament reduced the duty the colonies would have to pay for the imported tea. The Americans would now get their tea at a cheaper price than ever before. However, if the colonies paid the duty tax on the imported tea they would be acknowledging Parliament's right to tax them. Tea was a staple of colonial life - it was assumed that the colonists would rather pay the tax than deny themselves the pleasure of a cup of tea. The colonists were not fooled by Parliament's ploy. When the East India Company sent shipments of tea to Philadelphia and New York the ships were not allowed to land. In Charleston the tea-laden ships were permitted to dock but their cargo was consigned to a warehouse where it remained for three years until it was sold by patriots in order to help finance the revolution. In Boston, the arrival of three tea ships ignited a furious reaction. The crisis came to a head on December 16, 1773 when as many as 7,000 agitated locals milled about the wharf where the ships were docked. A mass meeting at the Old South Meeting House that morning resolved that the tea ships should leave the harbor without payment of any duty. A committee was selected to take this message to the Customs House to force release of the ships out of the harbor. The Collector of Customs refused to allow the ships to leave without payment of the duty. Stalemate. The committee reported back to the mass meeting and a howl erupted from the meeting hall. It was now early evening and a group of about 200 men disguised as Indians assembled on a near-by hill. Whopping war chants, the crowd marched two-by-two to the wharf, descended upon the three ships and dumped their offending cargos of tea into the harbor waters. Most colonists applauded the action while the reaction in London was swift and vehement. In March 1774 Parliament passed the Intolerable Acts which among other measures closed the Port of Boston. The fuse that led directly to the explosion of American independence was lit.

Daniel Johnson April 14, 2009 7:49 pm (Pacific time)

to Bill: Paying taxes is not American? Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes: “I like paying taxes. With them I buy civilization.”

bill April 14, 2009 5:42 pm (Pacific time)

Boy, you guys need to return to a real school, read it all maybe you'll understand that paying taxes is not american!!!

Henry Ruark April 14, 2009 4:53 pm (Pacific time)

To all: OCPP, as usual, is right on the money --no pun intended !. Corporate fingerprints and dollar-promotion drives are all over this one, as link below surely shows: wwwcommondreams.org The Corporate Lobbyists Behind the Tea Parties by Jane Hamsher Anyone who has watched Fox News of late has seen them talking about the April 15 "tea party" demonstrations, which they take pains to characterize as a spontaneous grassroots uprising against government spending that they are simply "covering." Neil Cavuto said [1]: "We are are going to be in the middle of these protests because at Fox, we do not pick and choose these rallies and protests. We were there for the Million Man March, even though, as I pointed out, it turned out to be well shy of a million men." The Million Man March happened in 1995 [2]. Fox News didn't go on the air until 1996 [3]. Why all the effort to distance themselves from the teabaggers? It's obvious they are integrally involved -- Fox has given them millions in free publicity, despite the fact that there's no evidence of "ratings gold" here. Four of their biggest stars will be appearing at the rallies, Fox Nation will be hosting a "virtual tea party," Glenn Beck is holding a $500 a plate fundraiser [4] for them and Fox has been officially promoting the entire affair as the FNC Tax Day Tea Parties. ================== Further details at link, including Armey tie-in for dollars, too. What ELSE would you expect from Austrilian press guru Murdoch, known for continual distortion/perversion of press for own purposes ? He OWNS Fox News, built it for precisely this kind of impact.

Stephen April 14, 2009 4:09 pm (Pacific time)

I have come to a conclusion. Even tho, I have lived frugal most of my life, did not buy stuff I could not afford, lived within my means, that with the philosophy that is gaining momentum, I am on the wrong track. People like me, will be taken advantage of. I used my finances to go into a 15 year finance on my home, and did without luxuries to make the payments. But now, with this new philosophy that is coming, I will not keep doing what I have been doing. I am going to take my line of credit, and I am going to buy anything that I can. I am going to get IN debt. It seems to me, that those IN debt get helped by those who chose differently. I am going to get a ONE THOUSAND DOLLAR HOOKER!, they cant take that away from me and give it to others. Of course, I wont do that, but do you get my point here? TO be honest tho, I am going to use my line of credit, and buy survival goods. I will not be frugal, so that this new philosophy can take it all away from me. I wonder how many are doing the same? ALtho, maybe the hooker is not such a bad idea. They cant take that away from me and spread the wealth.

Yasa Salguod April 14, 2009 4:05 pm (Pacific time)

The author of this article, “JUST DOES NOT GET IT” People who post anonymously are cowards. Think about it, Yasa

NoAntiObamaSigns April 14, 2009 3:06 pm (Pacific time)

That's what glenn beck is mandating. I say let's show him how much we respect his leadership in this movement. Let's keep the Obama Deception dvd's flowing too!

Daniel Johnson April 14, 2009 1:10 pm (Pacific time)

To; IncomeTaxIsOnlyForInterestOnTheDebt If you think about your thesis a bit more, you'll realize that corporations pay NO TAX whatsoever. Taxes are treated as a cost of doing business. Look at any corporate balance sheet and you'll see taxes in the expenses column. Taxes as an expense are passed on to the customer in EVERY case. What this means is that individual people pay ALL TAXES without exception.

What a Joke! April 14, 2009 1:10 pm (Pacific time)

OMG, get a life! You are rallying so the millionaires get lower taxes while the poor get dinged, do you even realize how stupid this is?

Bud Wiser April 14, 2009 12:38 pm (Pacific time)

This is a real funny article HAHAHAHAA /burp! Hey did the Oregon legislators pass that beer tax proposal? burp!

Lipton April 14, 2009 12:04 pm (Pacific time)

I imagine the Founding Fathers are quite proud of how the Boston Tea Party (a protest against numerous issues such as oppressive taxation and a centralized government that ignored the people) which will be used as a model across the country tomorrow also for numerous issues. Regardless of how one orientates past history with tomorrows history making moment, they both represent a movement by concerned people about which direction the government is taking them. In my opinion, tomorrow will be a watershed moment that will stir the beginnings of a movement that will foster the kind of change we voters really do want.

Anonymous April 14, 2009 11:55 am (Pacific time)

I wanted to add one more thing that I feel is very important. This protest did not come from the republicans. Just because glen becks ratings were dropping, while alternative news commentators were soaring, he decided to jump on the bandwagon and make people think this is a republican thing. The grass roots where this started and grew leaps and bounds (while beck was calling us terrorists and we should go to fema camps), do not even believe in the left/right paradyme. Beck called Ron Paul a looney last year. This year he loves Ron Paul. Same with Ann Coulter. I am sick of these money whores. The author of this article is highly misinformed.

AtLeastYouCoveredIt April 14, 2009 11:43 am (Pacific time)

Analyst: No surprise media mainstays ignore tea parties--Major traditional members of the media in the United States - television networks, major daily newspapers and the like - are ignoring the potentially nation-shaking story of the Tea Party protests because they attack President Barack Obama's massive tax-and-spend policies, according to a media analyst. "I don't think they like a nationwide protest they perceive as attacking their guy," said Dan Gainor, vice president of the Media Research Center's Business and Media Institute. "Yes, the mainstream media helped Obama get elected," he confirmed...http://www.thedailybell.com/

Anonymous April 14, 2009 11:40 am (Pacific time)

The author of this story may want to come to the Capitol Bldg tomorrow around noon, and learn something before writing an article that he obviously knows little about. Hope to see you there! Maybe you will learn something. I am deep in the middle of this stuff, and this author has not a clue of what is really going on. Oh, but the OCPP has been there to shape our economic system. I'd be really quiet right about now if I were them.

John Galt April 14, 2009 11:18 am (Pacific time)

This is a non partisan center? This guy Chuck Bolseivek apparently missed the 20th century. Central planning and big government doesn't work. Today over 50% of Americans don't pay any income tax at all. What's worse is his support of massive government borrowing to create "public sector" economic development somehow misses the reality that it will all have to be paid back with massive inflation, a devalued currency and lower living standards. Govt doesn't create wealth, that only comes from productivity increases. Perhaps Chuck can get a job in the private sector and really create wealth for society instead of acting as a public sector elite and pontificating on how our money should be spent for the "public good". Besides Chuck, pretty soon China isn't going to buy all our debt and all the goodies and entitlements will be over for everyone. Chuck might want to move back to Central Europe where I'm sure his socialist parents immigrated from.

IncomeTaxIsOnlyForInterestOnTheDebt April 14, 2009 10:56 am (Pacific time)

Why is it that a corporation pays taxes on it's NET profits, after taxes, but the humans are required to pay, off the top, if you will, on GROSS income? Think about that one for a few minutes.

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