Newly released tax data shows the tax rate for the wealthiest Americans has been effectively cut in half since the mid-1990s. In 1995, the richest 400 Americans paid on average 30 percent of their income in federal taxes. In 2007, the richest Americans paid less than 17 percent. During that same period, the combined annual income of the richest 400 Americans soared from $6 billion to $23 billion. On Monday, Tax Day protests were held in some 300 cities. Many protesters focused their attention on Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Google for avoiding to pay their full share of taxes by using tax code loopholes.

Burchell Marcus: “My name is Burchell Marcus. I’m the community director for the Borough of Brooklyn. I would like to see my tax dollars go to education. They’ve been cutting too much money away from education. Our kids are not being properly educated, right? Instead of spending the money for the war, take that money and put it into the economy so we can solve the problems here.”