Protest to Target Tax Breaks for Wealthy

As a vote on tax cuts looms in Congress, a protest is planned Monday in downtown St. Petersburg that calls for an end to tax breaks for wealthier Americans.

The protest, by the Florida Consumer Action Network, is scheduled for 11 a.m., ay the corner of Bayshore Drive NE and 5th Avenue North. The location is next to the historic Vinoy Hotel.

The rally is to support an end to tax cuts to people making more than $250,000 a year. The tax breaks were imposed under the former administration of Preisdent George W. Bush.

"Trickle-down tax breaks for the rich don’t create jobs. Jobs are created when we have a strong middle class that can spend and stimulate the economy.” said Karl Herrmann, of the Action Network in a news release. “We need more middle class tax relief, not more tax breaks for the wealthy who don’t need them.”   

The group said in a news release that it is staging the protest near the Vinoy Hotel and Vinoy Yacht Basin because they are symbols of opulence that are in contrast to the economic hardships that many Americans face today.

Passing the President’s plan, the group said, would protect tax cuts for all Americans making less than $250,000 a year while generating while $68 billion a year in revenue from the wealthiest Americans.

That is almost $700 billion over the next 10 years, which the groups says that revenue would help put people back to work rebuilding roads and bridges, repairing schools and reviving the economy.