April 2005

Tax Day Protest Demands: "Tax The Rich!"

By Staff

	Giant banner reading, “Tax the rich! Undo the cuts to poor and working people!” unfurled on the steps of the Minnesota state capitol building.

St Paul, MN - "Hey Pawlenty, here’s the fix! Tax the rich, tax the rich!" chanted 100 protesters who rallied at the state capitol building Apr. 15. Organized by the Minnesota Welfare Rights Coalition, low-income demonstrators made a big splash when they unfurled a massive banner on the capitol steps.

"Pawlenty and the Republicans are the bodyguards of the filthy rich! And they do not care who or what they destroy in their path, as long as they can squander yet more of the state’s money by stuffing it into the pockets of the richest,”"stated Tracy Furney of the Twin Cities-based Welfare Rights Committee. She added, "Poor and working Minnesotans did not create the budget crisis and we should not be the ones to pay for it."

The Welfare Rights Committee is pushing for legislation that would close corporate tax loopholes and use some of that money to undo some of the cuts made to public assistance in the past.