LIHU‘E — Kauaians young and old participated in a pair of tax-day protest rallies in Lihu‘e Wednesday, holding signs decrying rampant government spending at the Lihu‘e Airport junction in the morning and alongside Kukui Grove shopping center in the afternoon.
LIHU‘E — Kauaians young and old participated in a pair of tax-day protest rallies in Lihu‘e Wednesday, holding signs decrying rampant government spending at the Lihu‘e Airport junction in the morning and alongside Kukui Grove shopping center in the afternoon.
“I care for my grandchildren and great-grandchildren,” said Beulah Smith, a grandmother working two jobs to make ends meet. “We probably won’t be around to see the devastating effects” of current spending policies.
Smith said she attended the rally this year and not in 2008 because her federal taxes, which are to be submitted each year on April 15, have ballooned in the last 12 months. However, President Barack Obama’s tax policy calls for tax cuts for Americans making less than $150,000. Smith said she does not make in excess of $150,000.
“I’ll keep my dollar and you can have the change,” was Smith’s slogan.
Others in attendance at the afternoon rally also expressed concern about the future.
“We’re tired of taxes and worried about our daughter — we know she’s going to pay for it,” said William King, standing alongside his father William, wife Sarah, and eight-and-a-half-month-old daughter Britta. “She’ll look back and think ‘at least my parents tried.’”
Robert Castle, who attended the rally with his wife and nine children, said while current “excessive spending” had not yet led to tax increases, he was anticipating future inflation and the current track is a “never-ending cycle.”
The two Kaua‘i rallies were part of a statewide and nationwide project channeling the Boston Tea Party, with T.E.A. standing for “taxed enough already.” There were seven such rallies in Hawai‘i Wednesday, and many more across the nation as tax filings were due.
