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| Updated: 4/17/2012 10:02 pm |
Published: 4/17/2012 8:19 pm |
Tuesday, April 17th is the deadline to file income taxes.
Two rallies, both in front of post offices with two very different groups sharing their message with tax payers. Occupy Little Rock and the Saline County Tea Party. Two sides on opposite ends of the political spectrum, but with at least one issue they can agree on.
Ed Hairston is a Saline County Tea Party supporter who says tax day is a good time to think about the $16 trillion in debt the country is in. Hairston and about a dozen other tea party supporters waved signs outside the Benton Post Office to get the attention of tax payers. Their message is that the current generation, and even the next generation, won't be able to pay off what this country owes. "We're spending more and more. Congress doesn't stand up. They keep expanding the size of the debt."
At the Occupy Little Rock camp in front of the Little Rock Post Office, signs posted with the same intention, hoping tax payers mailing their returns will see their message. They say the tax system is regressive, unfair, and tilted toward the 1%. Greg Deckelman is the spokesperson for Occupy Little Rock. "Something is wrong with the system. It's broken and needs fixing."
Occupiers hope to educate tax payers to make informed choices on Election Day. "The rich 1% of this country and the corporations have the access that the general public does not, and they pay for that access. We cannot do so. That's an unfair system."
While both sides don't agree on how to fix the country's tax structure, both groups say people are struggling, and the American dream is suffering. Deckelman says people are tired of politicians who say one thing and do another. "Across the whole spectrum of Republicans and Democrats, people are just sick and tired of it."
Tea Partiers agree the government is taking too much money from the average American, but the 1% shouldn't be taxed more. Hairston says if you take money away from the 1%, it will hurt businesses. "Then where do the rest of us work?"
Filers have until midnight Tuesday, April 17th to get their tax returns filed.
