Hundreds rallied for lower taxes and an end to what they said was a socialist agenda in the Obama White House in a parking lot on Sandy Boulevard Friday.Leaders of the Tea Party Express came to Portland aboard two coaches and found a huge crowd eager to participate.
"No more taxes! No more taxes! No more taxes!" protesters chanted during the rally.
Meghan Youngsman said she feels so strongly about her tax load she dressed in a Confederate uniform dragging balls and chains to symbolize her burden. "It's getting heavier every day," she said.
Portland is just one stop among 38 for the Tea Party Express. It is a tour aimed at exposing what organizers and protesters said is a quasi-socialist agenda by the Obama administration and a tax and spend attitude taxpayers can't keep up with.
"I'll be paying 57 percent combined: Obama plus state next year," said Michael Brodeur who attended the rally.
"Once you're at 70 percent tax rate, you're a slave to the system," said a man from Tualatin who identified himself as Gary.
A small group of counterdemonstrators across the street questioned whether the tea party is really funded by big businesses that already get huge tax breaks in Oregon.
"We're upset with the corporations who put us in this big mess in the first place," said Noah Heller of Tax Fairness Oregon. "Right now two thirds of corporations doing business in Oregon pay just $10 a year in taxes."
The Tea Party Express is off to Washington and Montana next.
Organizers said their efforts will end on Election Day next year when voters oust their congressional leaders who have voted for tax increases.