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"I don't want to see this country turn into a welfare, nanny state," said tax-protest organizer Joanne Wilder, of Cicero. Wilder said she did not have to pay federal income tax last year because her income was too low.
She said she retired on disability from M&T Bank three years ago after undergoing knee replacement and back surgeries. She lives on her Social Security and disability benefits. Last year, she petitioned the bankruptcy court for protection from creditors.
"I don't want to see this country turn into a welfare, nanny state, where we stand in line for groceries, and we're in welfare lines, and in socialized medicine lines," Wilder said.
Divorced and raising a teenage son, Smith, 49, owns a driveway sealing business.
He is organizing the protest in Liverpool even though the National Tax Day Tea Party Coalition is not sanctioning or promoting it on its Web site.
The national coalition thinks the Syracuse community is too small to support two events, said Amy Kremer, the nationwide event coordinator. She said she pushed Smith to join forces with Wilder, but he declined.
Smith said he became involved because Obama is causing class and racial divisiveness by promoting policies that benefit select groups of Americans.
Americans need safety nets, but Obama and Congress are pushing programs that foster dependency and weaken capitalism, said Smith, who acknowledged he collected food stamp benefits for a few months last year.
"Obama is horribly divisive," Smith said.
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