Tax Filing Deadline Day Brings Out Protestors

With the midnight deadline looming for taxpayers to file their tax returns, a group of people calling themselves 99 percenters gathered for a peaceful protest outside the Palm Springs main post office early Tuesday evening.

As their signs and chants indicated, they believe the wealthy should be taxed more.

The protest came a day after Senate Republicans blocked the Democratic-backed Buffett Rule.

The legislation would have forced the nation’s top earners to pay at least 30 percent of their income in taxes.

The rule is named after billionaire Warren Buffett, who supports higher taxes on the rich.

“I thought it was good that they didn’t get it through,” said Merritt Hamilton as he was arriving at the La Quinta post office. “The numbers I think show when they actually crunched them, it really won’t do much for reducing the deficit.”

Also at the La Quinta post office, Tom Leach, an admitted late tax return filer, said he supported the Buffett Rule.

“If a guy is making say a million dollars, I think that was the cutoff. Then he should pay the same amount of taxes I pay. If am paying 44 cents on a dollar, he should pay 44 cents on a dollar.”

The debate will continue. Democrats pledge to reintroduce the Buffett Law at a later date.