Tax Day marches protesting Trump planned across the Bay Area

April 15--Marches in protest of President Trump's refusal to release his taxes are scheduled across the Bay Area Saturday.

According to TaxMarch.org, a website that lays out information about the marches across the country, people are planning to march in San Francisco, San Jose, Palo Alto, Milpitas, Walnut Creek, Novato and Santa Cruz Saturday in solidarity with a larger march in Washington, D.C.

"President Trump is the first president or major-party presidential candidate in four decades to refuse to release his tax returns to the public," organizers of the march said on the website. "We march to demand that the president release his returns, as he has repeatedly promised, but failed, to do."

Thousands are expected to join the Washington, D.C. march, though it is unclear how many plan to attend the local marches. The San Francisco event page on Facebook shows 10,000 people planning to attend the event near the Civic Center that will march down Market Street.

Several hundred people were expected to attend a noon march at San Jose City Hall, according to organizer Laurie Spoon. More than 100 have indicated they are attending on Facebook, while another 128 said they were "interested" in the event. In Walnut Creek, fewer than 40 people indicated they were "going" or "interested" on the Facebook page for the event, which will be held at the corner of Main St. and Mt. Diablo Blvd.

The local marches come as other pro-Trump rallies and counter protests are scheduled in Berkeley Saturday, prompting farmers market organizers to cancel the market for fear that the rallies will result in violence.

Trump has said an audit from the Internal Revenue Service is what is stopping him from releasing his tax returns, although the IRS has said that would not prevent anyone from releasing their own tax information. According to a study from the Pew Research Center in January, 60 percent of the public thinks Trump has a responsibility to release his tax returns.

For more information on the logistics of local marches, go to TaxMarch.org

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