The small, local rally was one of several hundred protests held at federal government buildings across the nation Tuesday, part of a concerted effort to “Rein in the IRS.”

Officials with the IRS admitted earlier this month that the federal agency had requested additional information from the Richmond Tea Party and the Shenandoah Valley Tea Party Patriots, among other groups across the country, when they submitted applications for nonprofit status last year.

Although the Jefferson Area Tea Party was not required to submit any additional documentation, group Chairwoman Carole Thorpe said the federal requirements prompted the local organization to forgo a nonprofit application.

Many of those gathered by the Freedom of Speech Wall on the Downtown Mall on Tuesday expressed concern that the federal institution was acting as an oppressive agent of the Obama administration.

“What should alarm all citizens is this brazen and illegal use of overreaching power by the federal government to harass whomever it chooses,” Thorpe told the crowd. “Today it’s the Tea Party movement. Tomorrow it will be another organization or entity, and very likely yesterday it was someone else.”

Thorpe and others argued that the IRS’s actions constituted a violation of the movement’s rights to free speech and peaceful dissent.

“A lot of people think tyranny is something we’re still waiting for here. A lot of people think tyranny is terrorism, like people getting dragged down the streets by the SS,” said protester Russ Seltzer. “Here’s the definition of tyranny out of a dictionary: arbitrary or unrestrained exercise of power, despotic abuse of authority.”

“That’s the IRS,” protestors shouted amidst a round of applause.

Discussion at the rally Tuesday eventually evolved into a conversation on local Tea Party recruitment efforts.

Many protesters expressed dismay that the event was not as well attended as they had hoped and that it had not been adequately advertised.

“I came here to see how big this group was,” Alex Janssen told the crowd. “You can recruit people to join this movement.”

Janssen and others said the local Tea Party should focus on gaining a greater acceptance among mainstream Americans, especially moderate liberals.

“Don’t talk to them critically about their beliefs,” Janssen said. “If you attack them, they’ll immediately throw up a wall. They’ll call you racist and everything else. The best thing you can do is talk to them about the intrusion of the IRS into our lives, the intrusion of Obamacare into our lives.”

Thorpe, who was elected party chairwoman last month after previously serving in the position, said she would work tirelessly with the local media to continue to promote the movement and its principles.

At the same time, she encouraged members of the organization to speak for themselves and communicate one-on-one with members of the community.