Last week was busy one for the National Fuel Accountability Coalition. Last Thursday March 8, 2012 was the date of the National Fuel Gas (NFG) annual shareholder’s meeting (which by the way was held all the way down in sunny Naples, Florida). Institutional Shareholder Services, publicly advised NFG shareholders to vote “no” on NFG’s executive compensation package (story here). A report was issued a day later by the Public Accountability Initiative. This report (which can be read here) details how NFG makes mega bucks, almost literal monopoly money, while paying an extremely minuscule amount in taxes. The National Fuel Accountability Coalition held a press conference on the day this report was released in downtown Buffalo NY. Below is a portion of Julie Boody’s (a coalition member) speech from the event, which sums up the community’s sentiments about these recent developments nicely.
“My name is Julie Boody. And, on behalf of the National Fuel Accountability Coalition along with PUSH Buffalo, Citizen Action, 99% New York and the Public Accountability Initiative, thank you all for coming out today.
We are here because a new report from the Public Accountability Initiative found that since 2009, National Fuel Gas has avoided paying over $400 Million in state and federal taxes. In that time they made over $1 billion in pre-tax profits. Enough is Enough! National Fuel needs to invest in our community and pay their fair share.
Last year, not only did National Fuel pay no taxes, they received a $63 Million tax rebate. That Ain’t Right!
People like you and I have to pay our taxes. Why don’t corporations like National Fuel. I filed my taxes this year just like every year. I’ve never received a $63 million dollar rebate! Did you?
While people in Buffalo are getting laid off and National Fuel is shutting them off, they are profiting off of our crisis! For the past two years, National Fuel has paid CEO David Smith a whopping $3,500 an hour. And he’s not the only one enjoying the luxury of our crises. Anna Marie Celino, CEO of the Utility Division, has seen her pay triple over the past three years, it’s now at almost $3 million a year.
We don’t want tax dodging, we want a community partnership.
For the past year our coalition has tried to work with National Fuel and CEO David Smith around the issue of high gas bills. Weatherization is our solution to the crisis; it creates jobs, lowers gas bills and saves energy.
Because of our coalition’s efforts, there are millions more dollars available for weatherization in Western NY.
But National Fuel hasn’t invested a dime of their own money into the solution. Furthermore, National Fuel refuses to work with us to create a clear way for people who need weatherization to be able to access those funds.
We don’t want tax dodging, we want a community partnership.
We need our legislators to close corporate tax loopholes so that the state can afford the public services that make our community strong! Right now, there is a bill in the Assembly which would recover more than $1.6 Billion in corporate taxes. This bill needs to pass so we won’t have to cut things like education, public transportation, housing, and healthcare. This is not a budget crisis, it’s a revenue crisis. We need National Fuel to stop selling us short and start partnering with our community.”
-Julie Boody (National Fuel Accountability Coalition)