The protesters, who voiced their concerns in Daley Plaza Monday, said they want to hold both Republican and Democratic politicians accountable for the country's debt and spending.
"The United States of America isn't gonna become the United States of Europe. Not on our watch," one protester shouted.
The tea party rally covered a range of topics - gun rights, abortion, healthcare, government spending and taxes.
"Raise your hands taxpayers. What do they not understand about we have been taxed enough already," said C. Steve Tucker, Patriot Action Network.
Speakers rallied the crowd to sign petitions rolling back a new state tax increase.
"We are spent, we are tired, and we are out of patience. We're out of money and we don't understand why our government at all levels can't tighten its belt and cut spending," said Adam Andrzjewski, For the Good of Illinois.
Not far away, MoveOn.org organized a protest at Boeing's headquarters. The protesters allege Boeing owes the government $1.4 billion in taxes saying the corporation and others aren't paying their fair share.
"We pay our taxes, Boeing should too," said James Nelson, Moveon.org.
"We need to make sure we need to send a strong message to not just Boeing but to Congress. We need to make share that we get rid of tax havens to make sure corporations are paying their fair share," said Brian Imus, Illinois PIRG.
"We want a recovery for the working class families of America. And the only way we're gonna do that, brothers and sister, is to put some fairness back into this economy," said Tom Balanoff, Service Employees International Union.
A Boeing spokesman says the company has diligently paid their taxes. He explained that what they pay fluctuates depending on many factors, including what they are spending on product development, production, job creation pension investments. On those items the governments offers incentives to bring down their taxes.
Both groups of protesters are troubled by the tax system in the U.S. but each has different ways to change that system.
In the meantime, the IRS is tracking who is paying taxes.
In 2010 the federal government collected nearly 12 percent of income taxes from businesses. But the largest amount of income tax last year came from citizens - 50 percent from individual tax payers.
