Protesters disrupt General Electric’s annual meeting to demand the conglomerate pay more taxes
Protesters affiliated with Occupy Wall Street participate in a ‘spring training’ protest outside the New York Stock Exchange on March 16, 2012 in New York City. The movement is planning an upcoming series of ‘spring training’ protests ahead of its planned ‘May Day’ strike.
Hundreds of protesters disrupted General Electric's annual meeting in Detroit today, demanding the conglomerate pay more taxes, Reuters reported.
The protest comes a day after demonstrators converged on Wells Fargo's annual meeting in San Francisco, amid a nationwide campaign by activists linked to the Occupy Wall Street movement against perceived corporate greed and economic inequality.
Several dozen protesters gained access to GE's meeting, shouting "pay your fair share", before they were removed by security, according to MSNBC.
The chant referred to reports that GE paid no corporate income taxes in some years due to tax breaks, the Detroit Free Press reported.
But GE chief financial officer Keith Sherin defended GE's tax practices, saying the company was a "large taxpayer."
"We absolutely are compliant with every law around the world in how we pay our taxes," Sherin said, according to Reuters.
"Our US tax expense last year was $2.6 billion. We are a large taxpayer, we pay our taxes and we very much support tax reform."
GE spokesmen said it was the first time in more than a decade that protesters had disrupted the company’s annual shareholder meeting, the Detroit Free Press noted.
No one was arrested, unlike at the Wells Fargo meeting where police arrested about 20 protesters, the Associated Press reported.
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