DES MOINES - There is more than taxes on the minds of the growing TEA Party crowd outside the Capitol.

Organized to coincide with Wednesday's deadline for filing federal income tax returns, the protest tapped into much more than frustration with taxes and government spending.

"It's way bigger than taxes," said Joyce Lutz of Des Moines. She and her husband, John, joined the Taxed Enough Already, or TEA Party, on the west terrace outside the Statehouse holding a "Liberty is all the stimulus we need" sign. "We're tired of what's going on."

Nearby, another sign warned "2010 elections are coming. Vote ‘no' on every incumbent."

Lutz concurred.

"We want to clean house," the retired bookkeeper said. "We didn't elect them to do all this."

Farther up the steps toward the Capitol, about 30 people from northern Iowa were headed inside to talk to their legislators about the recent Iowa Supreme Court decision striking down the state's ban on same-sex marriage. Some of them came for the tax rally, too, they said.

TEA parties are taking place in several cities around the state today to protest taxes and the way they are being spent at all levels of government, organizers say.

In Des Moines, the Lutzes, who operate a home-based business, are frustrated with the federal stimulus plan that John, a retired truck driver, said is "paying for corporate CEOs to go on vacation."

"It's time for this to stop," he said.

Brett Rogers, a self-employed strategy consultant from Des Moines, knew he had tapped into something when he and a handful of friends talked about joining in the parties around the country.

In no time, he had people from 62 Iowa communities helping him organize today's rally. He's confident 1,000 people will show up. Maybe 5,000, he said.

"We want to shout our message so loud they can hear it inside those thick walls," Rogers, 44, said, pointing at the Capitol.

Like the Lutzes, Rogers said he was not politically active and certainly never organized a rally before. While the tipping point for many in the crowd was the $787 billion federal stimulus package, he acknowledged people came for a variety of reasons.

Keeping the focus on taxes, Iowa Republicans warned Iowans this may be the last time they can deduct their federal incomes taxes from their state tax liability.

Republican Party of Iowa Chairman Matt Strawn compared legislative Democrats' tax plan that would end federal deductibility to the subprime mortgage crisis and warned Iowans to read the fine print in House File 807.

"If you liked a subprime mortgage crisis fueled by unscrupulous brokers who duped homeowners into low introductory interest rates only to dramatically increase rates and mortgage payments in later years, you'll love Iowa Democrats plan to do the same to Iowa taxpayers," Strawn said. "This ‘subprime' approach to tax policy offers a meager tax reduction for some Iowans in years one and two and then hammers them with huge tax increases from year three and forever onward. This is a $450 million ‘balloon' payment of a tax increase that will pop the budgets of most Iowa families."

Democrats have called federal deductibility, the provision in the Iowa tax code that allows Iowans to deduct their federal income tax payment when calculating their Iowa tax liability, antiquated and outdated. Eliminating it, they say, will make Iowa's income tax rates more competitive with other states and give the state more control over its revenue collections. Republicans argue ending federal deductibility would result in a tax on a tax in two years and a $154 million income tax increase when federal tax cuts expire in a couple of years.

It's a cruel hoax, Strawn said, because the Democratic plan would immediately raise taxes on some Iowans and small businesses earning as little as $20,000 annually. "By year three," he said, "more than 600,000 Iowa families and small businesses would see significant increases in their state tax burden."

Democrats say their plan will result in lower taxes for 60 percent of income tax filers and no change for another 14 percent. According to the Department of Revenue, Iowans making less than $125,000 would, on average, pay tens of dollars less in income taxes. Those earning more than $250,000 would likely pay as much as $900 more per year, the department said.

Democrats haven't said when they will bring up their plan for debate. Although House Republicans say there aren't 51 votes for HF 807, Democratic leaders say they are confident it will be approved.

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