While taxpayers rushed inside the post office near Union Station Monday night to file their taxes before the deadline, D.C. voting rights activists demonstrated outside.
Statehood-Green Party, Stand Up for Democracy and others demonstrated outside the Massachusetts Ave NE post office.
Also on tax filing day, Mayor Vincent Gray reminded us via a press release that D.C. taxpayers are expected to fork over nearly $3.9 billion in federal personal income taxes before the end of 2011 -- all while being denied a vote in Congress.
"Tax filing day is a glaring reminder that the residents of the District of Columbia are still treated like second class citizens as Congress refuses to grant us budget and legislative autonomy, and voting representation, even though we meet the full responsibilities of citizenship," Gray said in the release. "I urge all D.C. taxpayers individually and collectively to join the fight against this injustice so that our battle for full democracy stays on the front burner."
While Gray was chairman of the D.C. Council in 2009, the District installed a digital message board outside the Wilson Building to keep a running tally of taxes paid.
For those not good with the math, that works out to the following: D.C. residents pay $123.36 per second, $10.66 million per day; or $324.19 million per month.
Local
Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia local news, events and information
These totals are higher than federal personal income taxes paid in nine states: Alaska, Delaware, Idaho, Maine, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Rhode Island, and Wyoming, according to Gray's office.
