By Nate Jackson On Tuesday, we gathered at Westlake Park to say we’ve had enough. We are sick and tired of Wells Fargo and other big corporations wiggling out of paying their fair share.We have done our part, but it’s time the big corporations did their part too. They need to pay their fair share.
After a short rally at Westlake, more than 200 of us marched to the Wells Fargo building brandishing a giant sized check emblazoned with the $18 Billion dollars in special tax benefits Wells Fargo has weaseled out of Congress. While cars honked in support, security guards quickly locked the doors and taped up xeroxed off signs saying the bank entrance was closed.
But we weren’t going to let that stop us. We came to Wells Fargo to send a message about their need to pay their fair share, and we were going to deliver it.
RJ Williams, standing on the raised platform of the steel sculpture right outside the main entrance to the Wells Fargo building, talked about how he was suffering from health care cuts caused by big corporations and the 1% not paying their fair share.
“I’ve beat cancer twice before,” he said. “I don’t know if I can beat it again if I don’t get the healthcare I need. Wells Fargo and the other ones need to do their part. I’ve already done mine.”
RJ wasn’t the only one connecting the dots between the big bank evading its taxes and the slashing of services that we need more than ever.
Joanne Julaton, a recent nursing graduate, was there because she sees the direct line between big corporations like Wells Fargo shirking their responsibilities and health care cuts that impact workers and patients.
“The money that Wells Fargo doesn’t pay should be going to public schools and especially healthcare,” she said. “Hospitals need that support and if they don’t get it they can’t hire. If Wells Fargo would pay their fair share, we would all be doing better.”
Members of El Comite, an immigrant rights groups, joined us at our rally and march too. They’re outraged by Wells Fargo’s investment in Geo Group, a company that runs private prisons which often double as immigration detention centers. That means Wells Fargo gets a return on investment when people get locked up. Money from misery.
Our economy is not working the way it needs to when a company like Wells Fargo can profit from foreclosures, bailouts, and private prisons and then save billions by dodging their taxes while the rest of us pay the price in cuts to healthcare, education, and other services.
So we’re going to keep up the pressure until we can make things right. Wells Fargo and the rest of the big corporations need to do their part and pay their fair share.
The media was in attendance as well: KIRO TV Wells Fargo Tax Evader