I listened to the article “WTF does race have to do with taxes?”. The main topic is about how the tax system has benefited white people and hurt black people. According to a Standford University and the Treasury Department study, black taxpayers are 3 to 5 times more likely to be audited. In addition, the study shows that people with lower incomes are likely to be audited and questioned for the tax breaks that they reported on their taxes. Racial discrimination is harder to detect with agencies like the IRS because they are supposedly color blind. Dorothy Brown explains how she didn’t comprehend how their parents were paying so much money in taxes. She figured out that our tax law causes married couples to pay more in taxes because they are black. Dorothy stated that we cannot solve the racial wealth gap without making sure that it’s not being perpetuated by our tax policies. She speaks about the history of our tax code. Black Americans were paying taxes to a federal government that excluded them from New Deal protections. Essentially, Black Americans were paying to be second-class citizens. These New Deal provisions ensured returning Black veterans had no access to education or home loans. Subsidies for home ownership are tax subsidies designed for white Americans because they are the race that owns the most property in the country. In conclusion, the tax code was established to benefit white people a long time ago, and it is very hard to change it now.
A statistic that stood out to me is that 60% of black people who start college do not finish college and still end up with a large debt. My personal opinion on this topic is that it is unjust. The tax code favoring rich white men will never allow the wealth gap to diminish because the system is against people of color. I think that certain minorities were excluded in this article. Black people are not the only people harmed by the tax code. Hispanic/Latino people are also harmed, and there are several instances where undocumented immigrants pay their taxes but do not receive any benefits that any other taxpayer would receive. I feel that exposing how the tax system affects other minorities would be beneficial for everyone.
That was an interesting analysis of the NPR article- it’s shocking how the tax system gives white people more advantages while also putting a disadvantage on other minority groups. I also want to add that there are loopholes to the tax system and certain groups get away with it because they are more privileged than others.