Phoenix to join national `tea party` to protest higher taxes

PHOENIX -- Phoenix is among cities across the country which will host "tea parties" Wednesday to protest higher taxes and more government spending in Washington.

Doug Mathews, a small business owner in Phoenix, will be at the rally at the state Capitol.

"I think enough people are upset enough to realize that a lot of the folks we have sitting in Washington right now -- the only difference between them and the folks we fought against in 1776 is that they don't wear wigs," said Mathews.

The nationwide tax protest -- on "Tax Day," the deadline to file federal income tax returns -- is being compared to the "Boston Tea Party" when the founding father dumped tea into Boston Harbor in a revolt against higher taxes imposed by Great Britain.

There are more than a dozen "tea party" protests and rallies scheduled around the state from Yuma to Gilbert to Flagstaff.

Mathews believes the Bush Administration spent money like drunken sailors. He said, "All of a sudden, this administration takes hold and, in less than 100 days, they're making the drunken sailors look very conservative."

The message against more spending and higher taxes is spreading, Mathews said.

"I've got a daughter-in-law and a son-in-law who are going to one of these in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. I think it's just one way to show your opposition."

Mathews added, "The tea party idea is a great idea. I've always kidded that we need to go to Washington and have another tea party. I get the feeling that, unless someone reacts or unless there's enough people who react in this country, that nothing will happen."

Some people upset by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer's call for increased state taxes to deal with a projected $3.5 billion budget deficit also plan to attend Wednesday's rally.

State Senate President Bob Burns, a Republican like Brewer, does not like her idea of a state sales tax increase to help balance the budget.

Burns said lawmakers need to come up with "some sort of out-of-the-box, the unusual, not necessarily the typical solution."

He said they need to be creative, using things such as asset sales.

"We may have to do some additional rollovers, we may have to do some borrowing. We are doing everything we can to solve this problem without imposing a tax increase."

Brewer has said that it was six years of that thinking that led to the current mess.

But, Burns said Brewer's push for a tax increase is dangerous.

"There's a study that says if there's a billion-dollar increase in sales tax on the Arizona economy, we can look at somewhere between 14,000 and 15,000 job losses. That's not what we're looking for."

Burns added, "We're trying to figure out ways to solve this problem without harming the economic activity that currently exists, even under stress."

Valley economist Elliot Pollack agreed with Burns.

"In theory, the last thing you want to do when the economy's this tough is to take spending power from people and give it to the government because people need the money," Pollack said, adding that, "Overall, it's probably a negative for the economy as a whole."

However, Pollack said if taxes must be raised, he would favor a hike in the sales tax instead of the income tax or taxes on businesses.