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Demonstrators protest FedEx for not paying corporate tax rate
Protestors march outside of the FedEx Office store at 1440 Vine Street.
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Corey Bridwell/KPCC
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One of today's protestors dressed up as the symbolic 1%.
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Corey Bridwell/KPCC
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The banner covering a truck outside of the FedEx office today.
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Corey Bridwell/KPCC
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Salvador Dominguez, an ex-FedEx employee speaking during the protest. He claims that he was fired for trying to organize a union after working at FedEx for twenty-four years.
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Corey Bridwell/KPCC
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Refugio Mata, Good Jobs LA Communications Coordinador, gives an interview while protestors march behind him.
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Corey Bridwell/KPCC
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A smattering of the picket sign-wielding protestors outside of the FedEx Office building today.
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Corey Bridwell/KPCC
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About half of the nearly 200 people who came out for today's protest.
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Corey Bridwell/KPCC
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A protestor dressed up as a tax bil chants outside of the FedEx office.
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Corey Bridwell/KPCC
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Joaquin Miramontez is a social worker for LA County.
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Corey Bridwell/KPCC
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About 200 people met Wednesday outside a Hollywood FedEx store to protest the FedEx corporation for allegedly paying less than 1 percent in federal taxes last year.
The event was organized by the non-profit Good Jobs L.A. with support from Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the Teamsters Union. Referencing a 2011 report by Citizens for Tax Justice, demonstrators accused FedEx of making $4.2 billion in profits but paying less than 1 percent in federal taxes.
"During that time FedEx spent $46 thousand a day on lobbying Congress," said the group in a Facebook statement. "$13.8 million more than they paid in taxes."
Once the protesters arrived, the FedEx on Vine Street shut and locked its doors. Ten police officers were on hand to observe the demonstration.
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Organizers parked a truck in the parking lot directly in front of FedEx, acting out skits and giving speeches. One man dressed in a sheet of white paper and did a rendition of School House Rock's "I'm Just A Bill." Another wore three FedEx boxes and called himself "the FedEx Monster."
"As a social worker I see the impact of corporations like FedEx not paying their fair share," said demonstrator Joaquin Miramontez.
"Yesterday I was working with a family. They were trying to get help with childcare and we could not get them any because the program that we had last year, they had it cut off. We don't have the funding."
FedEx itself objected vehemently to the protestor's accusations, calling the Citizens for Tax Justice report "extremely inaccurate and misleading."
"In the past five years alone, our total taxes that we paid were $9 billion dollars," said Shea Leordeanu, a FedEx spokesperson. "That's billion with a B."
She went onto point out that since FedEx is a publicly traded company, they're required to release their tax information - both online and in investment reports. According to FedEx Corporation's December 2011 10-Q report, FedEx's 2011 income tax rate was consistently between 35.5 and 36.3 percent.
"The Citizens for Tax Justice, they don't show their numbers," Leordeanu concluded. "So I don't know how they do their math. But we're actually required to show ours."
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