Labor & Employment Law

Author Stephen King: Why Aren?t the Rich Like Me Paying More Taxes?

By James Parks

As 15,500 people rallied in 30 cities across Florida yesterday to protest Gov. Rick Scott’s budget, author Stephen King made a surprise appearance at the rally in Sarasota. A resident of Sarasota, King said maybe he should write his next horror novel about Rick Scott. He told the crowd the rich ought to pay more taxes (see video).

You might say, ?Hey, what are you doing up there, aren’t you rich?? The answer is, ?Thank God, yes.? And you know what, as a rich person, I pay 28 percent tax. What I want to ask you is why am I not paying 50 [percent]. Why is everybody in my bracket not paying 50?

Working people rallying in the ?Awake The State? events said they would not stand for Scott giving tax breaks to the rich and corporations while he sticks it to teachers, public employees and other middle-class citizens.

In Fort Lauderdale, Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) President James Williams joined more than 1,000 protesters who encircled the federal courthouse downtown. They carried signs proclaiming ?Support Your City, County and State Workers,” “United We Stand” and “Don’t Balance the Budget on Our Backs.? Passers-by honked their horns in support.

In Tampa, a crowd of 2,000 rallied in a city park and another 1,000 marched in Jacksonville.

Damien Filer, a spokesman for Progress Florida, which hosts the “Awake the State” website, told Sunshine News that the rallies have energized working people across Florida.

We heard from a lot of people who said they had never been to a protest rally before. The more civic engagement, the better for everyone.

In other actions:

• At the Indiana Statehouse yesterday, hundreds of working men and women gathered to mourn the death of the American middle class. The event also served to celebrate the life of the middle class, as a New Orleans-style jazz band led marches throughout the Capitol. “It’s not too late to save the middle class,” said Indiana State AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Joe Breedlove. “We can do this by stopping these bad bills. Bills that would slash wages, take away the rights of workers, silence their voices in their workplace, these are all unacceptable.?
• On Monday, more than 1,000 people rallied and marched in Erie, Pa., in support of public employees.
• The Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW), an AFL-CIO constituency group, has a new video supporting the freedom of public employees to bargain. Check out the video on CLUW?s website here.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on March 09, 2011 (boomark / email).