Tax Day protesters in Eugene demand less military spending, more green projects

Dozens of protesters gathered outside the Eugene Federal Building in downtown Eugene on Tax Day, pressing for cuts to military spending and a shift of federal tax dollars toward community and environmental projects. The action, organized by Planet Versus Pentagon, was part of a nationwide Tax Day protest and was aimed at the ongoing war with Iran.

People assembled Wednesday afternoon at 211 E 7th Avenue, with one local report placing the start time at 12:30 p.m. The demonstration added another chapter to a stretch of protests at the same federal building, which has become a regular staging ground for Lane County activists seeking to make national policy fights visible in downtown Eugene.

Organizers framed the rally around how Washington spends tax money and what Lane County communities receive in return. They called for military spending cuts and argued that those dollars should be redirected to community needs and environmental work, putting climate and local services in the same frame as federal war policy. The National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee said the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act authorizes $883 billion in total defense spending, a figure that gave the Eugene protest a concrete target.

The Tax Day message also carried a local accountability angle. At a 2025 Eugene Tax Day protest, volunteers used a penny poll, asking participants to divide 10 pennies among education, healthcare, housing, infrastructure and military spending. That earlier event, held outside the Eugene Public Library, showed how the group has tried to turn a national anti-war message into a debate over the budget choices that shape daily life in Eugene and Lane County.

The federal building has also been a flashpoint for more confrontational demonstrations. On Jan. 30, 2026, the FBI said 400 to 500 people took part in an anti-ICE protest there that escalated into a riot, with broken windows, spray-painted federal property and rocks thrown at law enforcement officers. A separate protest outside the same building on Feb. 28 denounced U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran, underscoring how the site has become a recurring venue for protests that connect local organizing to national conflict.

Thursday’s Tax Day rally fit that pattern. It was not just a symbolic call against war spending, but part of a coordinated effort to link federal budgets to Eugene’s own priorities, from green projects to the basic public services that compete for every tax dollar.