Progressive group draws much smaller crowd in nearby protest
Four blocks away from the Statehouse, where 300 tea partiers and supporters rallied against taxes and federal spending, a group of 14 community members and activists stood in the shadow of Bank of America with a different message.
Columbia members of MoveOn, a national progressive political action committee, gathered outside the bank late Monday morning to implore the corporation to “pay their taxes like the poor.”
The Monday rally was part of MoveOn’s national “Make Them Pay” Tax Day protest against “deadbeat corporations” such as Bank of America that they say have evaded billions in federal taxes through loopholes and special benefits from the government. Across the country, more than 300 protests formed outside the corporate offices of some of the nation’s most profitable companies, including Bank of America, General Electric, ExxonMobil, Disney and Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
The current corporate tax rate, as stated by the federal government, is 35 percent of total income, but according to a Capital IQ analysis of company reports for the New York Times, 115 of the 500 largest companies paid less than 20 percent over the last five years, and 39 of these companies paid less than 10 percent. Meanwhile, protestors say, GOP officials propose continued cuts of more than $44 billion to programs for the middle and lower classes, as well as lower federal corporate tax requirements.
According to them, the problem is not just with corporations but with the government itself and the current tax laws.
“What the companies are doing is completely legal with the current tax code,” said Bradley Powell, a 28-year-old Lexington resident. “We’ve set up a system in which corporations are no longer part of the country but rather their own separate unit, and they are able to buy politicians through campaigns.”
The protesters advocated for publicly funded elections and denounced “immoral” budget cuts from public education, Medicare, Medicaid and public safety. They also supported an end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which the Congressional Budget Office has estimated to have cost the U.S. more than $600 billion.
Rosa Fang, a 66-year-old retired nurse practitioner from Columbia, led Monday’s rally at the Bank of America Plaza. She said that despite her opposition to the tea party cries down the street, she doesn’t view the protestors as adversaries nor criticizes them for their patriotism.
“The tea parties love this country, too; both our intents are to have a strong America and a strong economy, even though we have philosophical differences,” Fang said. “I think a lot of tea parties are just misinformed. They say no taxes, but do they drive on highways? Where do they send their children to school? Do they go to the hospital when they’re injured or sick? These are all civil services that we have to pay for, including corporations.”
This year, according to Forbes.com, Bank of America paid no taxes on a $4.4 billion income. Two protestors, accompanied by Columbia Police Department officer Robert Hall, ventured inside the building to deliver a $3.5 million “tax bill,” representing Bank of America’s federal obligation, to bank officials.
They returned about a minute later with the bill still in hand after being referred to the bank’s legal offices by company management. The protestors were less than disheartened, however, and Fang plans on resending the bill as a registered letter to Bank of America executives.