"No new taxes!"

SACRAMENTO — More than 5,000 people gathered on the lawn in front of the California Capitol this afternoon, chanting “No new taxes!” in a swelling, popular response to federal and state spending.

At least 100 people from Nevada County attended the “Tea party,” joining irate taxpayers from around the state. Other gatherings were held across the nation on the day federal and state income tax returns are due.

The protesters are both harking back to the iconic Boston Tea Party tax protest of 1773 and using the word as an acronym for “Taxed enough already.”

Mark Meckler, the Nevada County man who helped organize the rally, opened the noon event.

“We've been accused of being tools of the Republican Party. Are you?” he asked the crowd, to a resounding “No!”

Michael Reagan, the ultra-conservative son of former President Ronald Reagan, also spoke at the rally. He expressed a widespread feeling among participants disenchanted with the actions of the Republican Party in the waning days of the Bush Administration, which approved the first round of $800 million in bail-outs for the financial industry at the beginning of the economic nose-dive last fall.

“How proud my father would be to see all of you standing up for lower taxes," Reagan said. “If my party had done it’s job, we all wouldn't be here today.”

Participants said they worry about the long-term consequences of higher taxes and the debt burden left by massive spending.

“We're Americans. That's why we're doing this. We're not black. We're not white. We're not conservative. We're not liberal," said Nevada County resident Barbara Langdon. “This taxation, it will stop job growth."

"It's not an Obama thing. It's a spending thing,” said Nevada County resident Megan Hood.

Despite repeated statements from speakers and participants about bipartisan nature of the movement, the crowd was largely conservative in political views they expressed.

Every time a speaker mentioned the name "Obama," people booed, and many carried anti-Obama signs. Several people equated the Obama Administration’s spending program with socialism.

But many others embraced the bipartisan, anti-tax and anti-government spending message of the day.

"For the first time in my life, I'm worried about what's going to be there for my kids and grandkids," said Judy Ten Eyck of Penn Valley. "They're using this financial crisis to scare people and tax for billions of dollars, and I don't think they care about the consequences."

Deep, wide roots

California’s “tea party” protesters object to, among other things, Proposition 1A, the initiative on California's May 19 ballot that would raise various taxes to close the state’s massive budget shortfall.

“Tea party” protests have sprung up around the nation, with participants picking up the Boston Tea Party theme of “no taxation without representation.”

In the modern age, the protests are spreading through social networking Web sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Local organizers Meckler and Jeff Boswell say the tea party movement is nonpartisan and focused only on forcing politicians to operate governments on balanced budgets. They blame the Bush administration for the nation’s descent into recession, and they criticize the Obama administration for massive, debt-financed spending to bail out failing banks and other businesses.

For more on this story, see Thursday’s edition of The Union.

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