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DTE
Energy
Shareholders
meeting
disrupted,
hundreds
protest
company
Company
has
forgotten
99
percent,
needs to
pay fair
share by
creating
jobs,
building
community
DETROIT,
MI -
Calling
on DTE
Energy
to pay
its fair
share of
taxes,
more
than 800
people
protested
in front
of the
company’s
Downtown
Detroit
headquarters
Thursday
as the
utility
hosted
its
shareholders
meeting.
Shouting,
“PAY
YOUR
FAIR
SHARE!
PAY YOUR
FAIR
SHARE!”
members
of Good
Jobs Now
along
with
other
Detroit
residents
began
their
protest
shortly
after
8:30
a.m. by
marching
down
Bagley
to Third
Street,
where
dozens
of
Detroit
Police
officers
blared
sirens
to usher
them off
the
street
and onto
the
sidewalk.
The
protest
lasted
some
three
hours.
Pastor
W.J.
Rideout
III, a
DTE
Shareholder,
was
among
two
dozen
shareholders
who were
escorted
out of
the DTE
shareholders
meeting,
after he
posed a
question
about
DTE and
its fair
share.
“I asked
Gerard
Anderson,”
–the
president
and CEO
of DTE –
“how
much do
you pay
in taxes
and why
are you
spending
all this
money on
lobbyists
and not
putting
the
money
back
into the
community
and the
state to
help our
schools,
help
fight
crime.
He said,
‘security,
please
escort
this man
out.’”
Two
dozen
protesters
who were
in the
meeting
then
stood
and
began
shouting,
“Pay
Your
Fair
Share!”
and were
also
asked to
leave.
Thursday’s
protest
was the
fifth
against
DTE in
four
months
pointing
up how
the
company
posted
nine-digit
profits,
pays its
executives
and
lobbyists
at high
rates
all the
while
ignoring
those
struggling
to pay
their
bills
and
failing
to
reinvest
in the
community.
In 2010,
the
company
had a
$640million
profit
and a
$172
million
tax
refund
(a
negative
27
percent
tax
rate).
In 2011,
the
company
posted a
$720
million
profit,
a 13
percent
increase
from the
previous
year.
The
group
protested
in
pursuit
of
specific
demands
from
DTE:
• Create
a
Community
Jobs
Fund of
$ 25
million
for
Detroit
Residents
that
would
provide
jobs and
job
training;
• Stop
lobbying
elected
officials
to cut
business
and
corporate
taxes
and
instead
use that
money to
expand
the
Summer
Youth
Employment
Program
to
include
more
months
of
employment
and the
number
of youth
involved;
•
Increase
funding
for the
THAW
assistance
program
to $10
million
and
broaden
eligibility
requirements
to help
Detroit
families
keep
their
homes
safe and
their
power
on.
"DTE
needs to
pay its
fair
share,”
said
Manila
Freeman,
a
60-year-old
retired
Detroit
Public
School
Teacher
who was
part of
Thursday’s
protest.
“They
should
reinvest
in our
community
with the
profits
they
have.
They
need to
stop
paying
elected
officials
to cut
taxes."
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