MoveOn.org Political Action groups in Sequim and Port Townsend will protest tax breaks for Bank of America and other corporations Monday.
The rallies are scheduled at noon in Port Townsend and at 5 p.m. in Sequim on Tax Day, the deadline for filing federal income taxes, which is Monday this year because of a Washington, D.C., holiday on the traditional April 15.
Both protests will be held near Bank of America offices — in the park across from the building at Water and Adams streets in Port Townsend and at Washington Street and Sequim Avenue in Sequim.
Organizers of both said they expect a “visit from Uncle Sam” to present a tax bill to the bank.
“We may find it painful, but we’re not at all against paying our taxes,” said Dennis Crawford, Jefferson County council co-chairman, in a statement.
“But in this period of drastic cuts in health care, education and other essential public services, knowing that big corporations dodge up to $100 billion in taxes every year creates a certain feeling of irony,” he said.
‘Make Them Pay’
The event is part of a nationwide Tax Day campaign called “Make Them Pay,” said Richard Gray, Clallam County MoveOn coordinator, adding that the protests are targeting “wealthy corporations that are doing everything in their power to avoid paying taxes in America.”
“Responsible citizens have paid their taxes by this day,” Gray said in a statement.
“But most of our largest corporations are paying absolutely nothing.”
Nationally, MoveOn has collaborated with US Uncut, said Carol Gallup of the Jefferson County MoveOn council.
The demonstrations on the North Olympic Peninsula will be among about 300 nationwide MoveOn events on Tax Day and are part of a weekend of US Uncut Tax Day protests, she said.
For more information about the Port Townsend rally, email mts2@olypen.com or mo368@olypen.com, or phone Crawford at 360-379-4716 or Mark Stevenson at 360-385-9037.
For more information about the Sequim rally, phone Gray at 360-477-4533.
For more about the national MoveOn group, visit http://front.moveon.org.
For more about US Uncut, visit www.usuncut.org.
