Union protest demands: ‘Tax the banks’

Thousands of United Auto Workers and supporters took to the streets of downtown Detroit March 24 to “tell big bankers it’s time for them to pay their fair share.” Chants against Bank of America echoed off tall buildings as UAW President Bob King denounced the taxpayer-funded bailouts banks received. He demanded they be forced to pay taxes like working people have to.

A UAW email stated: “This [economic] crisis has ... caused massive tax revenue shortfalls for the federal government and state governments across the country: nearly $300 billion combined for 50 states in the years since the crisis began. To deal with these budget woes, politicians are cutting public spending, laying off teachers, attacking public-sector workers, raiding pensions, closing hospitals, and eliminating essential services for children, veterans and the elderly.

“Six banks — Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley — together paid income tax at an approximate rate of 11 percent of their pre-tax U.S. earnings in 2009 and 2010. Had they paid the 35 percent they are legally mandated to pay, the federal government would have received an additional $13 billion in tax revenue. This would cover more than two years of salaries for the 132,000 teacher jobs lost since the economic crisis began in 2008.”

— Report and photo by Kris Hamel