Let’s get ready to rumble!

Luchadoras to settle the score between the People, the Powerful on Tax Day

North Carolinians, tired of paying the costs for the lack of tax fairness – the cause of austerity politics in Congress and tax changes on Jones Street – will finally get a chance to settle the score between the people and the powerful when champions for both sides face off at a public showdown on Bicentennial Mall at high noon on Monday, April 15th – Tax Day.

What: #FairFight between the People & the Powerful
When: Monday, April 15th at high noon
Where: Bicentennial Mall, across the street from the legislature (16 W. Jones St, Raleigh, NC 27601)
Why: This Tax Day, it's time to settle the score!

Reserve your ringside seat on Facebook!

After calling for Congress to repeal the sequester and for state lawmakers to stop shifting the tax burden off of North Carolina’s wealthiest citizens and corporations and onto low- and middle-income families, advocates for workers and for policies in the public interest announced what they are calling a “Fair Fight” at a press conference in Raleigh on Monday.

“We all want economic growth and broadly shared prosperity across North Carolina, but that can only happen if corporations and top income earners pay their fair share in taxes,” said Allan Freyer with the NC Budget & Tax Center. “Unless we have sufficient revenues, we’ll continue to see spending cuts that hurt working families and hurt our state’s ability to compete in the global economy.”

Unbalanced tax policies and cuts to critical federal programs are both the result of politicians in Raleigh and Washington being champions of wealthy and powerful special interests instead of the people who elected them. Working families need a champion, too, said state AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer MaryBe McMillan, “someone who will stand up to bullies, who will persist in the face of long odds, and who will never, ever give up.”

“We need a champion who will fight for justice and fairness, who will stand up to those in Congress who are holding the middle class hostage, who will challenge legislative leaders who want working folks to pay more so corporations can pay less,” Ms. McMillan continued.

Click here to see pictures from the weigh in.

Luckily for those working folks, such a champion has emerged. Since a fair fight in the political arena seems all but impossible these days, inside the ring will have to do. That suits masked female wrestler, Juicy Buns, with the Luchadoras of Durham, just fine.

“From Jones Street to Capitol Hill, too many politicians have forgotten who they’re supposed to be fighting for,” said Juicy Buns before her weigh-in on Monday. “I’m ready to show them what a real Champion of the People can do.”

All her life, the People’s Champion has worked hard. After her family turned her out on the street, Juicy Buns earned her keep in the back alley wrestling rings of Mexico City as an apprentice to famed Luchador, El Santo. Emboldened by her training, she returned home to find her siblings – mad with power – had taken control of her village and were forcing the townspeople to work for no pay in their dumpling factory. She took on all 10 of her siblings and defeated them in a single, epic match. She then put the employees in charge of the factory, donned her mask, and set out to defend the workers of the world wherever she is needed.

The People’s Champion will have to face off against a formidable foe at the Fair Fight, someone who shamelessly serves the forces of greed.

“The people may want a fair fight, but we don’t fight fair,” retorted The Scrambler, Juicy Buns’ Luchadora nemesis, who appeared at the weigh-in to take up the mantle as Champion of the Powerful. “I welcome the chance to remind all of you who pulls the strings around here.”

The Champion of the Powerful is literally the by-product of big business. She was born in a pharmaceutical lab and raised as an experiment by a group of white-coated corporate hacks. Her tiny cell was lined with copies of the Wall Street Journal, and she spent her childhood memorizing stock quotes and farm futures. Now fully grown, she still believes companies are her only friends, and she fights to protect the interests of a shadowy someone she’ll reveal only as “the Big Man.” She has no empathy at all for working folks and enters the ring only to gain power, money, and control.

See it to believe it! Watch this short video of the #FairFight press conference:

Now, with the weigh-in completed, the countdown until 4/15 has begun. If the last thing the Champion of the Powerful wants is a level playing field or a fair fight, what kind of dirty tricks will she pull? Will her sponsor, the Big Man, be revealed? Can the People’s Champion overcome the odds? Will greed triumph over fairness?

Answers to these questions and the awarding of the Grand Champion’s Belt await the outcome of the Fair Fight on Bicentennial Mall on April 15th!

“I want to be clear that I am not encouraging bets or wagers,” said Ms. McMillan in wrapping up the press conference, “but I do encourage you to take to social media, #fairfight, to cheer on your favorite and learn more about the great tax shift underway in Raleigh and in Washington.”

Click here to get caught up on all things #FairFight (and stay that way)!

About the Durham Luchadoras

Designed to promote an image of strong, capable women with personalities to match, the Durham Luchadoras follow in the footsteps of the legendary masked Lucha Libre wrestlers of Mexico. As in Mexico, Durham’s Lucha Libre wrestlers care deeply about their community. Luchadoras fight for social justice with as much ferocity as they bring to the ring. Visit bit.ly/durhamlucha for more info.

Download a PDF of the flyer for the Fair Fight!