SPOKANE -- Idaho Governor Butch Otter headlined Spokane's local Tea Party protest.
The group is celebrating its one year anniversary in Eastern Washington. Protesters are demanding smaller government, lower taxes and less spending.
In Olympia, people packed the sandstone steps of the Capitol to listen to speeches from talk-radio hosts, conservative think-tank organizers and citizen campaigners.
Kirby Wilbur of the conservative group Americans For Prosperity urged attendees to keep up their anti-establishment mood, saying, "You're going to have to give your time, your sweat and your treasure."
Most protest signs called for less government and lower taxes. While the crowd booed Democratic politicians, they also showed disdain for the entire political party system.
But the tea partiers didn't hold a monopoly on lauding lower taxes on April 15. Washington's Democratic Party said as a result of the federal economic stimulus bill, "families are receiving record tax refunds."
Nationally, Tea Party activists are ending a cross-country tour with a massive rally in Washington, D.C.
Tea Party events coincide with the April 15 deadline to file federal income taxes. The activists were expressing their anger and frustration over the taxes they're paying the government and how it was being spent.
