04.13.11 home | north bay bohemian index | features | north bay | open mic ## Direct Deposit Taking action against corporate tax dodgers By Mark Green Solomons Bohemian writer Leilani Clark helped inform me of the grassroots organization US Uncut spreading to make corporate tax cheats accountable, starting in Great Britain and expanding in the United States to counter the Tea Party ("Closing the Gap: US Uncut, the 'progressive Tea Party,' demands corporations pay their fair share," March 9). I initiated my own action: to open an account at Redwood Credit Union. Decisions in the State Legislature and Congress punish middle-class working Americans. There is a solution to cutting our budget, beyond Gov. Brown's tax proposal or the federal cuts. Why not make the richest of the rich pay their fair share in taxes, just like anyone else? The $3 in my wallet is more than the combined income tax liability of multibillionaire top Fortune 500 companies like Bank of America, Exxon Mobil, GE and Citigroup combined. That should be a clear red flag to our leaders that the richest of the rich are gaming the system. Tax avoidance is immoral. In the United States, there is a corporate culture of tax avoidance. Before one more teacher is fired or one more education program cut or food assistance for the poor eliminated, the richest of the rich—i.e., Bank of America and the other corporations listed above—need to pay their fair share, just like anyone else. As a geriatric social worker in the elder-care industry, I am flabbergasted at the shortsightedness of legislators in Sacramento proposing cuts in Adult Day Health Care, leaving frail elders with no choice but to go to more expensive nursing homes. Here is a chance to be proactive! US Uncut, MoveOn.org and Move Your Money all advocate that we speak with our checkbooks and transfer our bank accounts from Bank of America (and others) to local credit unions. Join me on Saturday, April 16, at the Redwood Credit Union in San Rafael's Montecito Plaza at 10:30am to open an account. Or be seen at Bank of America in Fairfax on tax day—Monday, April 18, at 9am—to hold this giant corporate tax cheat accountable. I pay, you pay—why doesn't B of A? Mark Green Solomons is a former social service director from Fairfax. For April 18 actions at Bank of America branches in Sonoma, Santa Rosa and San Rafael, see www.timetomakethempay.us. Send a letter to the editor about this story.