Protestors demonstrated in Bishop Saturday. (Photo by Harry White of Mammoth Lakes)

No one likes to pay taxes and most people will admit to doing what they can to keep their tax obligations as low as possible. And most of the people I know including small to medium sized business owners cannot afford a lobbyist to ensure that their tax obligations remain at zero or below. A report recently released by publiccampaign.org shows that 30 large corporations in America including GE, Verizon, FedEx, PG&E, Wells Fargo and Boeing paid more for lobbying than they paid in federal taxes in 2008, 09 and 10. In fact each of these companies and 25 more mentioned in the report had tax rebateseven though they had substantial profits for 2010. In total these large corporations paid $476 million dollars over three years lobbying Congress. This amounts to $400,000 per day, every day of the year.

This is one of the reasons a group of eastside residents from Mammoth to Lone Pine have gathered in Bishop on three occasions to stand on the street in support of the 99% of us who are not properly represented by Congress. We will gather publicly every other Sunday at Bishop City Park including Christmas Day and on into 2012 in support of a more democratic and just society. We believe that corporations are not people and that money is not free speech. We believe in making political, economic and social choices based on values not political parties. Please exercise your first amendment rights and join us at the Bishop City Park at noon on Dec 25, Jan 1, Jan 15, Jan 22nd and every other Sunday as we enter the 2012 election cycle.