Protestors to big business: pay up

The April 18 IRS deadline brought a crowd of more than 100 to Sonoma Plaza to rally for tax and social justice. Protestors called for closing tax loopholes that allow corporations to pay far less than their fair share – or nothing at all.

The Tax Day Justice Rally and March, one of hundreds held across the country, was sponsored by Sonoma County MoveOn, the Sonoma Valley Democratic Club, and the Sonoma Valley Peace and Justice Center.

“Everywhere we look, corporate politicians are slashing public services, eliminating workers’ rights, and destroying jobs,” said local organizer Ben Boyce, “yet big corporations and the wealthy are raking it in, and continue to get tax break after tax break.”

To symbolize the inequality, two members of the protest presented a “tax bill” to an official at the nearby Bank of America branch. The company, Boyce said, has not paid tax for the last two years on $4 billion profit.

Boyce said the event is part of a strategy to create a culture of Progressive activism. “We need to cut through the political passivity’ he said. “The goal is to create constructive way to express yourself and make an impact.”

The collation plans to stage an “action” such as Monday’s protest at least once per quarter heading into the election year of 2012. It’s time, suggested Marco Giordano, to take the message to the streets.

“All our lives we have mistake the ground of politics for a parade ground, not what is is,” he said, “a battleground.”