Donald Trump’s adviser Kellyanne Conway accidentally inspired a law professor and a comedian to convince thousands of people to take to the streets this Saturday to demand that the president release his tax returns.



The day after attending January’s Women’s March in Boston, Jennifer Taub was proudly looking at photos and coverage online when a video of Conway popped up.



Conway, Trump’s former campaign manager, declared that Trump was “not going to release his tax returns” and that voters didn’t care.

“That annoyed me ... people do care,” said Taub, a law professor at Vermont Law School, whose research and teachings focuses on corruption, corporate political spending and the links between politics and money.

Buoyed by the huge turnout at the Women’s March, she posted on Twitter.



“I traffic in ideas that people usually ignore,” explained Taub. “I invest years in research, writing and crafting a book, meticulously searching and referencing. I’ve testified before Congress. And nothing happens.”

But this time was different. Her post started getting hundreds of retweets.

A few hours later, the comedian Frank Lesser tweeted the same idea, and thanks to some high-profile retweets – from comedians Patton Oswalt and Billy on the Street’s Billy Eichner, and Beau Willimon, creator of the US TV series House of Cards – thousands of people were declaring they’d march on Tax Day to prove that people wanted the president to release his tax returns.

Trump claims no one cares about his taxes. The next mass protest should be on Tax Day to prove him wrong. — Frank Lesser (@sadmonsters) January 22, 2017

Overnight, an article was published on Huffington Post about Taub and Lesser’s idea. The pair started direct-messaging one another on Twitter to strategize. Emails flooded in from community organizers and groups offering to help plan the event.

“I impulsively shot off a tweet at two in the afternoon, and by the next morning, I’d created a movement,” said Taub.

At first, she wasn’t sure what to do.

“I was like: ‘Ah, OK, wait a minute. I’m a law professor. I can plan an academic conference, but how am I going to do this?’



“I had a choice: I could just walk away, turn off my phone and get back to academia, or I could help this thing come to life. I didn’t want to let go – it was too exciting!”

She joined the executive committee for the march, along with other community organizers. Her husband, the artist Michael Kuch, designed a poster that has been printed for 40 marches.

More than 130 events will take place this Saturday, with a full list of times and places available on the Tax March website. The DC march, which kicks off at 12pm at the US Capitol west front fountain, is expected to be the biggest: more than 50,000 people have listed themselves on Facebook as interested or attending.

Congresswoman Maxine Waters and Senator Ron Wyden will speak in DC. A giant inflatable chicken adopted as the march mascot – it both resembles Trump and questions if he is too chicken to release his tax returns – is already popping up around DC.

Sadly no @realDonaldTrump tax returns here. Just massive conflicts of interests....and very tacky decorating. pic.twitter.com/eyuutlXMZx — Tax March Chicken (@TaxMarchChicken) April 10, 2017

For Taub, Trump releasing his tax returns is important for two reasons: the first is “the tradition of transparency”, and the second is the public’s ability to identify conflicts of interest between Trump’s real estate and business holdings and his domestic and foreign policy.

“I believe the president should serve in the public interest and not for his own personal profit,” she said.

Tax reform is Trump’s next big legislative effort and Taub wants to push for “tax fairness, and inclusion of everybody in the economy so we can not just survive but thrive”.

“We could be heading in a direction of the 1% getting a tax break and I think people are very concerned about that,” she said.

Marches are planned for as far away as New Zealand and Tokyo; major US cities including New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco; and tiny little towns in the midwest. One is being hosted at the Coachella music festival in California.

“It’s just this amazing combination of all different regions and all different sizes,” said Gwen Snyder, a community organizer in Philadelphia and national organizer of the Tax March.



Snyder notes that the Tax March has seen a lot of new community organizers like Taub emerge and want to get involved because of their frustrations at the Trump administration.

“These are newly activated folks who are building relationships and building this national network,” said Snyder.

The law professor agrees – even if she misses the quiet of her work before the march, reading and writing legal texts.

“I didn’t expect how much joy and love there would be in the resistance,” said Taub. “I’m really excited to work together for years to come. It’s been transformative for me in that way – maybe I won’t retreat back in my shell.”