Bay Area Business Leaders Hold SF Rally For Higher Taxes
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- A coalition of wealthy Bay Area professionals gathered in front of San Francisco City Hall Tuesday afternoon calling on the government to raise their taxes.
The group, called Tax-Us, gathered for a Tax Day rally to champion the "Buffett rule," which calls for a minimum of 30 percent tax on incomes greater than $1 million.
Tax-Us founder John K. Stewart was among the Bay Area professionals who held signs and discussed the national budget Tuesday afternoon.
Among those at the rally was Dan Leibsohn, the executive director of Community Development Finance and owner of Capital Flows consulting.
Leibsohn, a resident of Oakland and Berkeley, said he and individuals in the coalition wanted to see the end of tax cuts from the George W. Bush administration.
"Romney wants a huge tax cut for the upper 5 to 10 percent," Leibsohn said. "We are facing a deficit issue that needs to be addressed. I'd love to see that addressed."
Meanwhile, as San Francisco residents rushed to mail their tax returns at the U.S. Post Office at Fox Plaza on Market Street, members of an advocacy group organized a gathering outside the post office.
Members of the Health and Human Services Network of California were demanding more taxes for corporations and the wealthy to pay for community services.
Gladys Soto, a 38-year-old mother and advocate, said that in order to preserve social services, everybody, including corporations and wealthy individuals, needs to pay their taxes to help the community thrive.
"We need to charge the rich. We need them to pay their fair share," Soto said.
Advocates expressed their appreciation for taxpayers this afternoon and asked them to sign a petition to put Gov. Jerry Brown's $9 billion revenue initiative on the November ballot.
(Copyright 2012 by CBS San Francisco and Bay City News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
