But this year it also took on a new significance. April 15 was the day that ordinary, common Americans took to the streets to give voice to their displeasure with massive unrestrained spending, insane bailouts, trillion dollar deficits for a decade, confiscatory taxation, unprecedented growth in the size and scope of government, and the march of socialism and wealth transfer.

Over 550,000 people turned out at one of hundreds of “Tea Parties” staged in all 50 states. Approximately one out of every 500 human beings in the nation attended such a protest. This is hardly an insignificant event, notwithstanding the Mainstream Media’s reports to the contrary.

The Left-Loving media first sought to marginalize the Tea Party movement, calling the participants “Fringe Elements”. Then they sought to mischaracterize them as Partisan Tools of the GOP. Some went so far as to compare them to Nazis. And in the final days preceding the event – a report from Homeland Security was released, intended to instill fear that attending such a protest put one at risk of being “watched” as a potential “Domestic Terrorist”! (Particularly egregious in that DHS report was the implication that returning veterans represented a potential threat. I personally find it fascinating that while we Conservatives HONOR our returning vets, the powers that be FEAR them!) 

If any were deterred… there were over half a million UN-Deterred Americans who turned out to boldly proclaim their opposition to policies which they deem harmful to our republic.

As I wrote in my “Primer on the Tea Parties”, these protests were NOT partisan, despite the best efforts of Michael Steele and the RNC to potiticize them.  It was almost amusing how the GOP came back burned when they were publicly rebuffed by the ACTUAL organizers.

Michael Steele attempted to co-opt the movement in a fund-raising effort for the GOP. He received STINGING rebukes from organizers.

Numerous GOP elected officials sought a stage to speak at the Tea Parties. Organizers refused, explaining that the event was NOT partisan and they wished to prevent its being politicized.

In St Louis, it was mentioned by one of the organizers that some elected officials ARGUED that they should be given a platform. But once denied, they didn’t make an appearance! In fact the only elected official that showed up was Congressman Todd Akin, who never asked to take the stage. He was there simply to lend his PERSONAL support to the effort! 

No, the Tax Day Tea Party movement is NOT organized by the GOP, by Dick Armey & Freedomworks, by Don Wildmon and the American Family Association, by the Constitution Party, by the National Socialists, or any other group. Taking inspiration from Santelli’s Chicago Board of Trade rant, several bloggers started the movement via Facebook and Twitter!

In St Louis, local blogger, Bill Hennessy contacted blogger, vlogger and local radio personality Dana Loesch following the Santelli Rant about throwing together an ad-hoc “Tea Party” protest. Out went postings on Twitter and Facebook. A Facebook event page was posted. The event was planned for the St Louis Riverfront 5 days later on February 27.

Hennessy and Loesch initially anticipated a turnout of 50 or so committed individuals. They were THRILLED when the Facebook Event Page listed over 250 confirmed attendees the day before the event. But even they were ASTOUNDED when the turnout for the day topped 1200 under the Arch in St Louis! It was the biggest “Tea Party” protest in the nation on that day.

They new they had a movement started, that couldn’t stop there. Dana Loesch  of danaradio.com became one of the National Organizers for the April 15 “Tax Day Tea Party”. Along with Michael Patrick Leahy of tcotreport.com, Eric Odom of dontgomovement.com, along with a few other blogger types, the planning began for the April 15 Nationwide Event.

They established an event page on Facebook, and along with their own Twitter and Facebook pages, their personal emails, and finally a website, www.taxdayteaparty.com.

Hundreds of motivated grassroots people around the country organized their own local events, coordinating thru the Facebook, Twitter and taxdayteaparty.com websites. It was a TRUE GRASSROOTS effort.

The issues cut across party lines. There were Republicans, Independents, Libertarians, Constitution Party members, Democrats and more all participating with a common purpose: To express to Washington that they have HAD IT with the unbridled tax and spend policies, growth of government’s size and intrusion, and the threat to our rights and liberties that such a bloated government represents.

St Louisan Scott Ransom commented after the party: “We were "there," and wow, what an awesome crowd, right down to a person. There were some pierced-up Lefties standing right with me, and when I thanked them for being there, I swear one of them started to cry. She was SHOCKED. Fabulous gathering...wanna do it again like now.”

Media coverage of the Tea Parties was largely dismissive. The media and those in Washington dismiss this movement at their peril. It is strong. It is committed. It cuts across the political spectrum. It is not going away. In fact, it will probably grow larger and more powerful by the time the next Tea Parties come around. Yes, there will be more! Get ready for the LIBERTY Tea Parties on July 4!

Copyright © 2009 by Doug Edelman

But for so many of us today, these issues are just so much "talking heads" noise. The American public is much more focused, in this day of financial turmoil, on "meat and potatoes" issues of the economy. And the health of Wall Street isn't as significant as the "Main Street" viewpoint of "what about my job, my healthcare, my TAXES?"

The discussion of taxes occupied a prominent portion of the final debate and "Joe the Plumber" has become a phenomenon!

Unfortunately, neither candidate clearly articulated their own or their opponent's tax policies clearly or concisely enough that the casual viewer could possibly extract a lucid understanding of how their policies would or could affect U.S. It then falls to analysts and commentators to distill it all down for public consumption.

So, here are some Tax Facts to bear in mind as you evaluate the candidates and their statements on taxes.

* Remember that there are scores of taxes imposed on the American people... not just the income tax. Your net buying power is affected by the sum total of them, and not just the income tax. So if you have your income tax reduced, but taxes on the goods and services you buy increase, you may see a net reduction in your purchasing power though you have more dollars in your pocket. Moreover, if tax policies result in higher prices, this is effectively a hidden tax as your purchasing power erodes.

* 30% of Americans have no income tax liability! They pay no income tax. When Obama offers "tax relief" to 95% of the people, 1/3 of those people will get "relief" in the form of a check when they paid nothing into the system! This is classic socialistic redistribution of wealth. Obama unwittingly revealed this intent in his "Joe the Plumber" conversation.

* Even if it were so that 95% could or would receive a tax cut, the top 1% of taxpayers (AGI over $364,657) earned approximately 21.2% of the nation's income (as defined by AGI), yet paid 39.4% of all federal income taxes. Yes, almost 40% of all income taxes are already paid by the top 1%. Based on these numbers, is further soaking the "rich" sustainable?

* Tax cuts for the rich? You are in the top 25% of income earners if you bring in more than $62,068 a year. (Bet you didn't know that means you're rich…) The top-earning 25 percent of taxpayers (AGI over $62,068) earned 67.5% of nation's income, but they paid more than four out of every five dollars collected by the federal income tax (86%). (source) This means that the bottom 75% of earners already bear only 14% of the burden despite earning almost 1/3 of all the income. Who needs tax relief? If you're in the top 25% at $62K, how low must your income be to be considered by some to be "middle class"? Low enough to be one of those not paying income taxes at all?

* Tax cuts don't reduce federal revenues; they stimulate economic growth which results in increased revenues to the federal government! It happens every time it's tried.  Kennedy's tax cuts raised revenues. Reagan's tax cuts doubled revenues. Bush's tax cuts also increased revenues. (Spending is another issue entirely.)

* Tax breaks for corporations that send jobs overseas: The implication, of course, is that there is some policy, implemented or proposed, to reward companies for sending jobs abroad. There is not. A generalized policy toward tax relief on business in general (which would positively impact the economy as a whole) would be a tide that lifts all boats – including those who might outsource – but there is no concerted effort to inventivize shipping jobs offshore.

* On the other hand, there are dis-incentives in the tax code to bring overseas jobs back home. Removing these barriers has been painted as a "tax break" for companies who have overseas operations, even though doing so would bring these operations back home. Currently, the U.S. has the second highest tax rates on businesses in the world, something mentioned by John McCain during Wednesday’s debate. When a company has overseas operations, they pay the prevailing tax rate in the country of the operations. Here is the conundrum: Whatever the difference is between that overseas tax burden and our U.S. rates is required to be paid to the US, but is deferred as long as the operations remain overseas. Upon repatriating these operations back to the U.S., the cumulative difference is immediately due. Therefore, companies can avoid paying this accrued tax by remaining overseas. (These policies have been in place since long before George W. Bush, by the way.) If this barrier to returning home could be mitigated, many operations would be repatriated, creating domestic jobs and stimulating our economy. This could be accomplished by a moratorium on collecting the accrued difference, by allowing the accrued difference to be amortized over a number of years, or by removing the requirement to pay the difference at all. Furthermore, the current high corporate tax burden in the U.S. drives business overseas to pay the lower rates and defer the difference, so cutting the rate to a rate more competitive with the global market would keep more business at home in the first place.

* Corporations don't pay taxes? The fact is that corporations consider taxes part of their cost of doing business, and so they respond to increased taxes in one of two ways: they either increase the cost of the goods and services they provide (impacting their customer's buying power) or they reduce other costs by cutting jobs. When we say we will reduce taxes for the "middle class" and increase taxes on those earning over $250,000 (which are primarily small businesses who employ people), we will see higher prices – which reduces buying power and therefore hurts the "middle class."

Sadly, most Americans do not understand these facts, and are therefore easily swayed by eloquent "we're going to take care of you" speeches. Whenever a politician promises you a free goodie, please: ask “how?”