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Members of SEIU Wisconsin, Fight for $15 and a Union to join Rep. Sinicki in denouncing Kleefisch-Walker plan for a $3 billion Foxconn giveaway with no return
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Protestors to rally with oversized Kleefisch puppet, signs that read ‘Radical Rebecca, we want to know, where will all our taxes go?’
MILWAUKEE – Wisconsin workers with SEIU and the Fight for $15 and a Union will join Rep. Christine Sinicki, local voters and community allies in a Tax Day demonstration outside Foxconn Technology Group Headquarters. Participants will condemn gubernatorial candidate Rebecca Kleefisch for her involvement in Foxconn’s failure to create jobs and support the local economy despite being offered billions in public dollars.
Rebecca Kleefisch, self-proclaimed “jobs ambassador” in 2017, was a strong proponent of the Wisconsin Foxconn deal, which almost ballooned into a $3 billion giveaway of local taxpayer dollars with little to show in return. The company has failed to initiate any meaningful work, and as Racine County’s biggest taxpayer, Wisconsinites are in jeopardy of having to foot the bill if the company fails to make its upcoming property tax payment.
The original 2017 Foxconn deal included nearly $3 billion in state and local tax incentives despite warnings from elected leaders and economists that the deal would never recoup the taxpayer cost as structured. The company promised to create up to 13,000 local jobs, which have yet to materialize.
Governor Tony Evers was able to improve upon the disastrous deal by renegotiating with Foxconn and saving billions in taxpayer dollars. On Monday, participants will target Kleefisch with their demands to put Wisconsin workers first and roll back tax giveaways to corporations, reminding the public of how she is responsible for the ongoing debacle.
EVENT DETAILS
WHAT: Demonstration outside of Foxconn Wisconsin Headquarters, decrying the technology company’s failure to create local jobs despite massive, taxpayer-funded incentives. Advocates, local voters condemn gubernatorial candidate Rebecca Kleefisch for her role in the debacle. Action to follow current COVID-19 safety protocols.
WHO: Members of SEIU Wisconsin, Fight for $15 and a Union, Souls to the Polls, Citizen Action Wisconsin, Rep. Christine Sinicki, local voters and community allies.
WHEN: Monday, April 18, 2022 at 12pm CT
WHERE: Foxconn Technology Headquarters – 611 E Wisconsin Ave, Milwaukee, WI 53202
VISUALS: Larger-than-life puppet of Rebecca Kleefisch holding an oversized $3 billion check to Foxconn, participants with large signs that read, “Radical Rebecca, we want to know, where will all our taxes go?”
Workers Nationwide Take to the Streets, Highlight Corporate Greed Ahead of Tax Day
The action in Wisconsin is happening as working people from coast to coast are raising the alarm on corporate greed and taxpayer-funded giveaways around Tax Day. To highlight corporate tax avoidance, SEIU and the Action Center on Race and the Economy (ACRE) are holding a Week of Action from April 9 to April 18. In New York, Denver, Chicago, Tennessee, Florida, Philadelphia, Hartford, Boston, Milwaukee, and Portland, Maine, working people will take to the streets to highlight how corporations short-change our communities, and that the time for change is now.
The Week of Action included a multi-state press conference on April 14 that released a new report from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) showing never-before-seen data of corporations not paying taxes in many states. In Wisconsin, 37% of corporations pay zero dollars in state corporate income taxes, according to the report.
