Protesters decry corporations shirking taxes

Waving signs with the slogans “Paying taxes is patriotic!” and “The joke’s on the people!” about 30 people gathered on Tax Day outside a downtown Colorado Springs Wells Fargo bank office to protest big corporations not paying their fair share of taxes.

The protest was one of hundreds organized across the country Monday by liberal groups such as MoveOn.org and US Uncut to focus attention on huge corporations such as GE, Google, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, that pay little or no taxes, despite hefty profits.

The issue rose to prominence in March when  the New York Times reported that GE, which made $14.2 billion in profits paid nothing in taxes for 2010, thanks to “a maze of shelters, tax credits and subsidies.”

The United States has one of the highest corporate income tax rates in the world at 35 percent, yet few companies pay that rate. Protesters said Wells Fargo paid only a 7.5 percent tax rate on $19 billion in profits in 2010.

“Imagine if we could get that kind of deal,” said Terry Bitzel, a twice-laid-off worker for large corporations now on unemployment. “We work our butts off and still have to pay.”

Several of the protesters noted that reforming corporate tax laws could help bridge the federal deficit.

While a number of passing cars honked in seeming support, no one came out of the bank besides the normal flow of office workers walking to lunch.

Mick Allen, an electrician who works for the city, held a sign that read “My share $11,594. GE’s $0. Unfair.”

“I’m an adult. I understand you have to pay taxes,” he said. “I’m just a working guy who pays his dues and I want others to, too.”

He said it was unlikely Colorado Springs’ small protest would make a difference, but perhaps the group could join with others to make itself heard.

“One drop of rain won’t do much,” he said. “But put a bunch together and you got something.”

As the protest wound down, organizers tried to deliver a mock bill to Wells Fargo for an estimated $5 billion they said the bank owes in taxes. A bank manager told them he wouldn’t accept it, and the group retreated back to the sidewalk.

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