20 protesters target Toledo Edison building
3/2/2012About 20 people protested outside the Toledo Edison building in downtown Toledo on Thursday, but a company spokesman said they aren’t seeing the whole picture.
The protesters said they wanted to show their frustration with corporate America, specifically FirstEnergy, Toledo Edison’s parent company. They also claimed the company paid no federal income tax in 2010.
“A part of this is for people that want to expose the companies who didn’t pay taxes,” said Chere LeGrant, a 61-year-old Toledoan.
FirstEnergy spokesman Mark Durbin said the company pays more than $1 billion in taxes every year. Tax restructuring in 2009 allowed some taxes to be deferred, but the company eventually must pay them, he added.
“We obviously disagree with their contention. When you look about all the taxes that are paid, FirstEnergy pays about a billion in taxes very year. That, in a nutshell, is a counter to what they are saying.”