Tax protesters gather in Moses Lake

MOSES LAKE — About 40 people were gathered at Civic Center Park carrying signs protesting taxes by the time Moses Lake’s Tax Day Tea Party started Wednesday.

The protest, styled after the Boston Tea Party, aimed at drawing people together to complain about taxes in the country. Moses Lake’s event was one of dozens around the state.

Scott Hudson, one of the event’s organizers, said it wasn’t a Republican event, it was just an event for people who were tired of getting taxed. A group of people started organizing the event two weeks ago.

“We just started talking on the phone and said, ‘Let’s get together and have a meeting.’ So we formed a committee and then it was fast from there on.”

Hudson was happy with the turn out and expected more people to come after they got off work, he said.

“A lot of people get off work about five, so that’s why we figured we’d go from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.,” he said. “Mostly we just want our elected representatives to take note of what’s going on and that people are upset. We don’t want all this debt put on the backs of our kids for generation after generation.”

This was an opinion echoed by Larry Bolden and Shawn Christman, who were also there holding signs.

“I’m tired of the way government is spending our money and our children’s and our children’s children money and enough is enough,” Bolden said. “Just the amount of money and no body really reading the bill … I don’t feel as if there’s enough accountability.”

Christman feels like the government considers the citizens expendable. Somebody should be considering how to pay off the deficit and he is concerned about his children’s future.

“I think our government’s being run by big money. It’s whoever can fill their campaign coffers,” he said. “They’re not thinking about us little people, we’re expendable.”

Jay Howard found out about the protest and came down to it because he doesn’t feel the current tax system is fair.

“Never been at a rally before,” he said. “Also I agree with the cause."