April 15 is normally the federal tax deadline.
Across the country, tens of thousands of people participated in rallies demanding President Trump release his tax records.
For the last 40 years, every president and presidential nominee has released their tax returns to the public. But not Trump.
While the president says the public does not care, recent polls show 74-percent of Americans think he should release his tax returns.
On Oahu, organizers estimate about 600 people participated in the tax march from Ala Moana to the federal building in downtown Honolulu. They said they have several more marches planned.
Marchers said they wanted the event to be more than just asking for Trump’s taxes.
“I think we want to take from this event that we want to see the taxes, but we also want to empower people. A lot of people have a lot of trauma right now and feel helpless and we gain power by coming together,” Kirk Johnson, Hawaii J20 member, said.
Presidents are under no obligation to release tax returns, and Trump has shown no intention of making them public.
When Trump was running for president in 2016, he said, “tax returns don’t mean anything about worth, just so you understand. And you never give a tax return when you’re being audited. You know I get audited every single year.”
Many of the people who participated in the march were holding signs with slogans such as “stop hiding your taxes” and several people were wearing chicken beaks. Participants said beaks show that they believe “the president is being a chicken”.
Hawaii Republican Party state chair Fritz Rohlfing responded to beaks by saying, “I think that it’s a lot of political theatre, but of course he is not legally obligated or even morally obligated to release his tax returns. I think it’s kind of a distraction,” .
Hawaii J20, a community group that started on Trump’s inauguration day, plans to hold more rallies about this issue including an event when Vice President Mike Pence visits Hawaii on April 24.
