3/8/2011 Activists Hold Wall Street Accountable …

Published on Truthout (http://www.truth-out.org)

Activists Hold Wall Street Accountable

for Economic Crisis
Mike Ludwig | Monday 07 March 2011

Progressive groups threw a one-two punch

at the nation's richest banks on Monday. A
coalition of watchdogs and activists
released a new report revealing how the
wealthiest bailed-out banks have caused
the current economic crisis by dodging
taxes, and hundreds of demonstrators
rallied in Washington, DC, to demand the
attorneys general of all 50 states file
criminal charges against banks that are
suspected of committing foreclosure fraud during the nation's housing
crisis.

At least 600 demonstrators gathered outside the National Association of

Attorneys General (NAAG) spring meeting to demand tough settlements on
foreclosure fraud cases resulting from a NAAG investigation into several
banks' practice of signing foreclosure documents without checking for
accuracy - a practice the NAAG calls "robo-signing."

The demonstrators - many of them homeowners - also occupied and

successfully shut down a Bank of America branch before occupying the
offices of Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) and House Speaker John
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Boehner (R-Ohio). Click here for scenes from the protests.

NAAG launched the investigation in October 2010, but has yet to take
action against banks like Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase that were
suspected of systematically robo-signing foreclosure documents before the
scandal made headlines.

Protesters outside of the National Association of Attorneys General meeting in Washington, DC.
(Photo: National People's Action (NPA))

Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller led the investigation, and the National
Peoples Action (NPA) and other groups have since met with Miller to
demand state attorneys general file criminal charges against banks guilty
of robo-signing foreclosure documents and secure restitution for Americans
who have already lost their homes in illegal foreclosures.

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NPA affiliated activist Keya Hicks said that, in earlier meetings with
activists, Miller agreed to file criminal charges against banks that issued
illegal foreclosure documents. During the rally, Hicks and other community
activists entered the NAAG spring meeting in hopes of talking with Miller
about the results of the robo-signing investigation, but the activists were
told several times that Miller was not available.

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National People's Action visited the office of House Speaker John Boehner on Monday, March 7.
(Photo: National People's Action (NPA))

A NAAG spokesperson did not respond to an inquiry from Truthout, but

Hicks said NAAG representatives have signaled that the results of the
investigation should be available soon.

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The rallies outside of the NAAG meeting and outside nearby bank branches
coincided with the launch of the Make Wall Street Pay campaign. The
campaign released a new report detailing how the nation's richest banks
dodged taxes and caused $300 billion in tax revenue shortfalls in federal
and state governments that could have helped average Americans during a
time when politicians are aggressively cutting funding to the public sector.

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3/8/2011 Activists Hold Wall Street Accountable …

Activists deliver a bill to Bank of America. (Photo: National People's Action (NPA))

The report, released on Monday by the NPA and the watchdog group the
Public Accountability Initiative, reveals startling figures on the same super-
rich Wall Street firms that received billions in federal stimulus monies when
the economic crisis began.

Among the report's key findings:

Bank of America operates 371 tax-sheltered subsidiaries,

more than any other big bank studied, and 204 subsidiaries in
the Cayman Islands alone, according to its latest regulatory
filings. Seventy-five percent of Goldman Sachs's foreign
subsidiaries are incorporated in offshore tax havens.
This year, Bank of America is receiving the "income tax
refund from hell" - $666 million for 2010, according to its
annual report filed in late February 2011. This is following a
$3.5 billion refund reported in 2009. Bank of America's
federal income tax benefit this year is roughly two times the
Obama administration's proposed cuts to the Community
Development Block Grant program ($299 million).
Wells Fargo reportedly received a $4 billion federal income
tax refund on $18 billion in pre-tax income in 2009, and paid
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3/8/2011 Activists Hold Wall Street Accountable …
7.5 percent of its pre-tax income of $19 billion in 2010 in
federal taxes. Its net federal income tax benefit for 2009 and
2010 combined, $2.5 billion, is equal to the Obama
administration's proposed cuts of 50 percent to the Low-
Income Home Energy Assistance Program.
Six banks - Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citigroup,
JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley
together paid income tax at an approximate rate of 11
percent of their pre-tax US earnings in 2009 and 2010. Had
they paid at 35 percent, what they are legally mandated to
pay, the federal government would have received an
additional $13 billion in tax revenue. This would cover more
than two years of salaries for the 132,000 teacher jobs lost
since the economic crisis began in 2008.
The banks' private banking arms protect the wealth of rich
clients from taxation through offshore investment strategies.
Bank of America's wealth management arm encourages
clients to register their yachts in foreign jurisdictions for tax
reasons.
Closing special tax loopholes on the financial sector and
implementing sensible revenue-raising initiatives such as the
Financial Speculation Tax could generate over $150 billion in
federal tax revenue each year.

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