This year's
Tax Day Marches on Saturday, planned in dozens of cities across the county, are
expected to be the biggest political mass mobilization since January's Women's
March, which some believe was the largest mass political mobilization ever
recorded.
Organizers
hope to call attention to the fact that Trump is the first president since
Richard Nixon to refuse to release his tax returns, and to prepare for a fight
on tax policy.
"We
need to see Trump's tax returns as a matter of transparency. If we're going
into a tax reform debate, we need know if what Trump wants to do is going to
benefit himself, since he tends to do things that help him and not necessarily
others," said Wes Shockley, one of the organizers of the New York City
march.
And with a
big fight on tax reform looming in Washington, progressives are hoping the
demonstrations will start to energize grassroots activists about taxes, which
is typically seen as GOP turf.
April 15
marked the kickoff of the Tea Party movement in 2009, which sprung up as a
reaction to the presidency of Barack Obama. But activists note the anti-Trump
"resistance" movement has already been underway for several months.
Saturday's
rallies — sponsored by a large coalition of mostly left-leaning groups — is
unlikely surpass that magnitude, but cities from Denver to Washington, DC are
nonetheless expecting tens of thousands.
Trump has
said in the past that he can't release his returns because he is being audited
by the IRS.
Experts say
an audit would not prevent Trump from making his returns public. And a Pew
survey from January found almost two-thirds of Americans think Trump
has an obligation to release his tax return.
In spoiling
for a fight on taxes, progressives are stepping onto turf that has often
favored Republicans. Cutting taxes has long been a top priority for the
conservative base, while GOP candidates have for decades found success in
attacking Democrats for wanting to raise taxes.
But Trump
and congressional Republican leaders are promising to take up a
major code overhaul soon, and activists are hoping to have as much influence on
that debate as they did on the effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
"It has
sort of been a Republican issue, but people are starting to make the connection
about why we pay taxes and what that money pays for," said Shockley.
With united
Republican control of government, Democrats are worried Republicans will cut
taxes on the wealthy and corporations and financially suffocate government
programs they support.
"Progressives
support an amply funded government sector, which means we must pay a lot of
attention to tax policy," said Jared Bernstein, a former top economic
adviser to former Vice President Joe Biden.
Elizabeth
Williams, one of the people behind a Tax Day March in Minnesota's Twin Cities,
said organizers have tried to make the march as bipartisan as possible, with a
message that she hopes can appeal to anyone.
"It's
about financial transparency in political campaigns and also about a fair tax
system that works for everyone," she said.
This year,
taxes are actually due on Tuesday, April 18 because April 15 falls on a weekend
and Monday is a federal holiday
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