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RALEIGH — Some North Carolina tax returns are arriving in Raleigh steeped with what has become the ad hoc symbol of protest: a tea bag.

Drawing on the imagery of the Boston Tea Party, a movement driven mainly by conservatives has been sending tea to government offices — including some in Congress — as a signal that they would like to see taxes and government spending lowered.

“There has been some of that,” said N.C. Revenue Secretary Ken Lay, confirming the spread to his agency. But whatever signal the filers are hoping to send may not be getting through.

“I don’t read anything into it at all,” Lay said. “For me to try to guess what’s on someone’s mind when they do something like that is an exercise in futility.”

Dallas Woodhouse, who leads the North Carolina branch of Americans for Prosperity, is happy to fill in the blanks.

He said no group he knew about was organizing an effort to protest the revenue department.

“It’s interesting that people came up with that on their own,” Woodhouse said. “That ought to be a pretty clear signal people don’t think state government ought to be raising $700 million or $800 million or whatever it’s going to be in new taxes.”

His group is helping to coordinate more than 20 “Taxpayer Tea Party Protests” across the state today, including one in Greensboro. He’s quick to say that most of the protests, including the one in Greensboro, are organized locally and that his group is helping only to provide some logistical help.

As for those who have enclosed tea with their returns, expect to wait a bit longer for a refund if one is due.

Lay said that “special handling” is required for those returns. When asked whether returns with extraneous material enclosed received some sort of special security screening, he said, “That, I cannot discuss.”

North Carolina tax refunds are running about four weeks behind schedule because of cash flow problems at the state.

The sour economy has crimped tax collections, which has in turn slowed the issuing of refunds.

Checks will be issued, Lay said, but only when the government can be sure that there’s enough money in the bank to pay them.

Contact Mark Binker at (919)832-5549 or mark.binker@news-record.com