Tax Inequality at Issue During Tax Day "Showdown" in Raleigh

NC State AFL-CIO, PO Box 10805, Raleigh, NC 27605

Press Advisory for April 17, 2012

Contact: Jeremy Sprinkle, Communications Director, 919-833-6678, [email protected];

TAX INEQUALITY AT ISSUE DURING TAX DAY “SHOWDOWN” IN RALEIGH

Who will win when demonstrators for the 1% and 99% converge outside Bank of America in Raleigh at 11 A.M. on Tuesday, April 17?

Raleigh, N.C. – Working families, community advocates, students, retirees, and people of faith will stand off against representatives of multi-national corporations and the super-wealthy at a “showdown” on Tax Day, April 17th, outside the Bank of America branch in Cameron Village.

Demonstrators at the Tax Day protest will rally to reject the Ryan budget and other costly tax cuts for the super-wealthy that jeopardize public education, Social Security, and the investments we need to grow the American economy and save the middle class.

Tax policies that grant the 1% huge tax cuts and let mega-corporations off the hook for paying their fair share of taxes leave working families and everyone else in the 99% stuck with the bill.

Take for example North Carolina-based Duke Energy, which is currently fighting N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper to raise consumers’ electric bills by 7%. According to a recent report by the non-partisan Citizens for Tax Justice, despite making $7.2 billion in profits 2008-11, Duke paid less than nothing in federal taxes, receiving a $2.5 billion tax subsidy.

Tax inequality deprives our state of vital revenue and poisons our politics. According to data from the N.C. Budget and Tax Center, state lawmakers’ choice to do away with the personal income tax surcharge on millionaires cost our treasury $43 million. The General Assembly cut funding for Pre-K education by $32 million.

What: Tax Day “Showdown” about tax inequality

When: Tuesday, April 17, 2012 from 11 A.M. to 12 noon

Where: Outside the Bank of America, 321 Oberlin Rd, Raleigh, NC

Who: AFL-CIO, MoveOn.org, and community activists.

Why: Tax Day is a reminder that corporations and the super wealthy aren't paying their fair share and choose instead to use their wealth and influence to keep it that way. The other 99% in this country are paying the price in cuts to vital public services.

For a list of America’s top 30 corporate tax cheats - including Duke Energy and Wells Fargo - read the report “Big No-Tax Corps Just Keep on Dodging” by Citizens for Tax Justice athttp://www.ctj.org/pdf/notax2012.pdf.

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The campaign against corporate tax-dodgers will continue with actions during the Bank of America shareholder meeting May 9, 2012.