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Canfield TEA party assails taxation on Tax Day
By Denise Dick
Photo
The Vindicator|Geoffrey Hauschild.Candy Davis, of Boardman, listens to speakers next to her daughter Abbey, 19, who sits in a wheelchair due to a disability during a TEA Party event on the green in Canfield on Thursday evening. "I think its important to try to improve the condition of the country and there are some good ideas," said Davis. "I don't think there is a place for the government or the employer in Health Care, I just want it to be affordable like my house insurance or car insurance."
By DENISE DICK
CANFIELD
They carried signs and wore T-shirts, proclaiming their wishes for smaller government, less taxation and more freedom.
They were hundreds of people who assembled Thursday evening on the Village Green for the Tri-County TEA [Taxed Enough Already] Party.
Thursday was the last day to file income-tax returns without an extension, and taxes played a big role in the gathering.
“April 15 is also the day that Abraham Lincoln was assassinated,” said Werner Lange of Newton Falls, who sported an Elect Traficant T-shirt. “He’s the one who said it: ‘Of the people, for the people and by the people.’ We need that resurrected too.”
Jim Flynn of Goshen said he attended the rally because people elected to serve seem to have no allegiance to the government. He pointed to the health-care bill and emissions caps.
Flynn said he’s also concerned about the country spending money it doesn’t have.
A sign on the window of a truck parked alongside the green bore one person’s views: The trouble with socialism is ... sooner or later you run out of other people’s money.”
“Born free, taxed to death,” and “Freedom is all the stimulus we need,” were written in another window.
One man wore a shirt that read: “I like my tea with a little bit of government, and a lot of freedom.”
Former U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr. was the evening’s keynote speaker and again called for repeal of the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the abolition of the Internal Revenue Service and establishment of a flat tax.
The 16th Amendment allows Congress to levy income tax.
“The reason we have the 16th Amendment is because when the income tax was first put forth, the Supreme Court said it was unconstitutional,” Traficant said.
His comments elicited cheers from many in the crowd. “You rock,” yelled one woman, her arms stretched over her head.
Talk show host Dan Rivers of 570 AM WKBN radio was emcee for the evening. Other speakers were Donald K. Allen and Bill Johnson, both Republican candidates for the 6th Congressional District; Dan Moadus, a Democratic candidate for the 17th Congressional District; Columbiana County Republican Chairman Dave Johnson; and Larry Everly, owner of a tanning salon.