The Hidden Racism of the Tax Code: a fireside chat with Dr. Dorothy A. Brown & Dr. Darrick Hamilton

On December 9, the Take on Wall Street campaign of Americans for Financial Reform hosted a virtual fireside chat with Dr. Dorothy A. Brown, Professor of Law at Emory University and author of The Whiteness of Wealth and Dr. Darrick Hamilton, director of the Institute for the Study of Race, Power and Political Economy at The New School, to discuss the white supremacy inherent in our tax code and how American tax policies impoverish Black Americans while enriching white Americans, and how we can restructure our

system to focus on justice and equity. The event featured our advocacy manager Mandla Deskins hosting their chat.

Here are quick highlights from the event:

If you’re left wanting more, here’s the full conversation:

Even when Black Americans make the same financial choices as white Americans, their wealth is extracted by a tax system that is anything but neutral. Fundamentally, the tax code was structured by white male elites to build their own wealth, while extracting wealth from Black families. This tax structure helps create and maintain Black American poverty that is linked to a plethora of negative life incomes. As Professors Hamilton and Brown explain, it doesn’t have to be this way.