How American tax policy fosters racial inequality (with Dorothy A. Brown)

Pitchfork Economics with Nick Hanauer

Civic Ventures

Business, Government, News, Politics

4.8 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 26 July 2022

⏱️ 30 minutes

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Summary

While most Americans know that our tax system advantages wealthy white families, not as many people realize how much it also actively disadvantages Black families. Tax law professor Dorothy Brown breaks down how racial inequality is built into U.S. tax policy and how we can try to fix it. This episode was originally released in November 2021. Dorothy A. Brown is professor of law at Emory University School of Law. She is a nationally recognized scholar in tax policy, race, and class and has published extensively on the racial implications of federal tax policy. She is the author of The Whiteness of Wealth: How the Tax System Impoverishes Black Americans — And How We Can Fix It. Twitter: @DorothyABrown The Whiteness of Wealth: https://bookshop.org/books/the-whiteness-of-wealth-how-the-tax-system-impoverishes-black-americans-and-how-we-can-fix-it/9780525577324 Black families pay significantly higher property taxes than white families, new analysis shows: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/07/02/black-property-tax/ Website: https://pitchforkeconomics.com/ Twitter: @PitchforkEcon Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, Pitchfork Economics listeners. I'm Ashley, one of the producers here at the show.
0:04.5	We're taking a break this summer, which means no new episodes, but in the meantime,
0:09.6	we're re-releasing some of our favorite past episodes. Like this one, from November 2021,
0:15.5	with Tax Law Professor Dorothy A. Brown. She explained how racial inequality is actually baked
0:21.7	into our tax policy. It's fascinating and infuriating, and we hope you'll listen even if it's for
0:28.0	the second time. If you're a fan of the podcast and follow the show on Apple or Spotify,
0:32.8	please remember to leave us a five-star rating or review. If there's one thing we've talked a
0:38.0	lot about over the years, it has been the ways in which the economy is set up to advantage
0:43.9	people with more money. In no place is that more obvious than in the tax code. Basically, when black
0:49.9	and white Americans engage in the same activity, whether it's getting married, whether it's
0:54.2	buying a home or trying to build wealth, our tax system advantages how white Americans engage
1:01.3	in the activity, and at the same time disadvantage how black Americans engage in that activity.
1:12.7	From the home offices of civic ventures in downtown Seattle, this is Pitchfork Economics,
1:17.7	with Nick Hanauer, the best place to get the truth about who gets what and why.
1:24.2	I'm Nick Hanauer, founder of Civic Ventures. I'm David Goldstein, senior fellow at Civic Ventures.
1:39.6	So Goldie, if there's one thing we've talked a lot about on the podcast over the years, it has
1:45.6	been the ways in which the economy is set up to advantage people with more money,
1:52.7	and the way in which we preference capital over work and so on and so forth, and in no places
2:00.0	that more obvious than in the tax code. We've talked about it a lot. If you're rich and have
2:07.0	a ton of income, your rates are literally lower than if you were a middle class and have a job.
2:13.9	You mean like me? Yes, like you, specifically like you. I think you and I have not understood,
2:21.2	as clearly as the ways in which that system disproportionately disadvantages black families.
	...

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