Nearly 1,000 protest taxes in Wilmington tea party

Nearly 1,000 people squeezed into an empty storefront at the Wilmington Riverfront on April 15 to participate in a tax day tea party, one of hundreds of tax protests held across the nation.

Despite a soaking rain, people flooded to the nonpartisan rally against increasing tax rates and government spending, bearing signs with messages like "Restore the Republic" and "End the Fed."

Inside the crowded storefront, a number of speakers, such as Wilmington financial planner Greg Dawson, spoke against the U.S. tax code, calling it an oppressive system that steals money from hardworking people.

Following the fiery speeches, the protestors marched outside where Hank Black and Debe Enney, dressed in 18th-century clothes, tossed an empty burlap sack into the Christina River, replicating the Boston Tea Party of 1773, where Colonists protested taxes by throwing three shiploads of tea into Boston Harbor.

Some, like Wilmington resident Jim Rockwell, attended the protest wearing the same tri-cornered hats those Boston patriots would have sported during their tax protest. But instead of protesting tea taxes, Rockwell railed against the income tax.

“If you don’t own the fruits of your labor, you’re not a citizen, you’re a subject,” he said. “Taxes on someone’s labor are wrong.”

Eugene Munn, of Hockessin, agreed that the income tax system is unfair. He suggested that America adopt a consumption tax, where people pay taxes on the things they purchase, instead of the money they earn.

“Taxing the people into the ground is not fair,” he said. “They should throw out the current tax code and start over.”

Brandywine Hundred resident Don Carbaugh also thought the U.S. tax code could do with an overhaul, but he was more concerned about government spending, which he said is getting out of control.

“It sounds kind of trite, but live within our means is what it has to be,” he said.

The higher government spending becomes, the more money the IRS must shake out of the American taxpayer, said Jason Fannin, of Prices Corner. A business owner, Fannin said he could never charge customers more because his business overspent.

Looking at the throngs of people clapping, cheering and waving signs, Fannin was hopeful their message could reach the ears of legislators in Washington.

“You’ve got to start squeaking at some point or no one’s going to give you the oil,” he said.