Tax Day Protests Nationwide in U.S.

was the deadline to file federal income tax returns, which is traditionally a day for protesters with a tax-related message to get their rallies on.

Members of BAY-Peace perform a war tax protesting song-and-dance in front of the Federal Building in Oakland, California on .

In my neck of the woods, a number of groups including Northern California War Tax Resistance, BAY-Peace, CodePINK, Global Day of Action on Military Spending, Iran Pledge of Resistance, Courage to Resist, and Occupy Oakland, marched downtown and held a rally at the Federal Building. I showed up long enough to take a quick look-see and get some photos, but was feeling too sick from a head cold to stick around long.

Here are a couple more of the early tax day action reports that have been trickling in:

War tax resister Clare Hanrahan spoke at a rally in Asheville, North Carolina. Democrats and organized labor were hoping to make the rally a celebration of “the Buffett rule” and other “tax the rich” messages, but Hanrahan reminded them what tax money pays for. “My speech at today’s tax-day rally was a bit too seditious for MoveOn,” she writes, saying that group canceled their appearance at the rally when they heard a war tax resister would be speaking. Here’s what she had to say.

War tax resisters in Portsmouth, New Hampshire held their annual “penny poll” outside the local post office, asking passers-by to vote with pennies for their idea of what the nation’s spending priorities ought to be. This, then, is contrasted to the priorities reflected in the federal government’s budget.