There's something so romantic about winter and I don't know whether that's just because

I'm a bit of a homebody and I love a 5.

But I think it's just the holiday period, it's just for me, it's the most romantic period.

And I think anyone who's listened to my records will know that I'm quite a big fan of romance.

Joy in every sip with red cups now back at Starbucks.

This is a word a podcast from Slate, I'm your host, Jason Johnson.

It's April, Spring is sprung, flowers are blooming and procrastinators like myself

who've been planning to get started any minute now on filing their taxes are running out of time.

In For African Americans, navigating a tax system that historically has a workforce

can come with extra challenges.

For a lot of middle class black folks, a lot of people who have more complicated affairs

who may itemize their tax deductions, etc, they absolutely should have professional help.

Surviving the black tax and thriving financially coming up on a word with me, Jason Johnson.

Stay with us.

Welcome to a word a podcast about race and politics and everything else, I'm your host, Jason Johnson.

It's tax season, a time when many of us are sorting through shoe boxes of receipts,

searching kitchen drawers for forms and generally freaking out about money management.

It's also a good time to talk about America's financial systems,

how they've been structured to work for some people and to work against others.

The black tax is a name for the complex web of discriminatory,

social and financial policies that can make life more expensive for African Americans than for

whites, everything from redlining to banking bias to the tax code itself.

...