About 10 members of Occupy Providence dressed in Robin Hood hats and tunics marched to the Rhode Island State House yesterday afternoon, joining a crowd of more than 80 who attended the House Finance Committee's hearing on five bills that would raise taxes on the top 1 or 2 percent of earners in the state.
Members of Occupy Providence gathered to support the proposed tax increases, but many do not expect the bills to pass.
Richard Robison, a former social worker from Cranston, felt pessimistic about the bills' chances of success.
"I think it has a chance, but I wouldn't bet on it," he said.
"There's still so much to fight," Occupier Mariah Burns said. "Today I just want to accomplish a little annoyance."
"I like to do this," Burns said, demonstrating her outstretched middle finger. "It's better than sitting at home and not doing anything."
Burns, from South Providence, said she feels jaded about changing anything politically. "(The bills) are not going to pass," she said. "I wish they would. The least we can do is just go in and tell them how we feel."
Before the meeting began, the committee voted unanimously to hold all bills for further study. The collection of five bills prompted eight pages' worth of witnesses who signed up to speak, not all of whom could give testimony.
"We were reducing taxes on the people that could afford to pay them, and we were placing that burden on the people we represent," said state Rep. Scott Guthrie, D-Coventry, co-sponsor on each of the bills, about state tax breaks that were passed in 2010. "We were led to believe if we don't give breaks for the people that make the most money, the job creators, they're going to leave."
"The only people that are leaving Rhode Island are the people that are on fixed income, because they can no longer afford to live here," he said, prompting audience members to hold up signs proclaiming, "Where are the jobs?" and "If tax cuts worked, Rhode Islanders would be working!"
"The lowest 20 percent of earners in our state pay about 11.9 percent of their income in taxes while the top 1 percent pay just 5.6 percent of their income in taxes," said state Rep. Maria Cimini, D-Providence, co-sponsor of all five bills, prompting slight gasps and boos from the audience. "We must raise revenue in a fair way."
Occupy member Randall Rose said the bills attempt to solve a longstanding problem.
"Nobody thinks that we're doing better now than 16 years ago," he said. "Everyone agrees the economy is doing much worse."
Rose attacked the argument that tax breaks would make Rhode Island more competitive.
Cutting taxes "makes (Rhode Island) a place where people don't want to be," he said. "That's the real effect of cutting taxes - it harms our reputation." He said people from other states think only of bankruptcy when they think of Rhode Island.
Rose also attacked the committee's decision to hold the bills for further study. "It's never going to leave the floor, and that's just what happens to these tax bills all the time."
But Rose said he expected change to be a long-term process.
"I didn't come there expecting to change the committee's mind," Rose said. "I just came in there to show partly the politicians but also people in general that Occupy Providence realizes that there's a lot of problems with the system."
