Aspen Ideas to Go How One Woman's Detective Work Uncovered a Racist Tax System
In tax law, most people think the only color that matters is green. But, after more than two decades of research, tax scholar Dorothy A. Brown discovered that America's tax system is not color-blind. In fact, societal racism is deeply embedded in it. "Regardless of what white and Black Americans do, tax policy subsidizes white Americans and disadvantages Black Americans," she says. From attending college to getting married to buying a home, Black Americans are financially disadvantaged compared to their white peers. In a conversation with Ida Rademacher, executive director of the Financial Security Program at the Aspen Institute, Brown talks about her book, The Whiteness of Wealth: How the Tax System Impoverishes Black Americans—and How We Can Fix It.