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taxes



  • How the U.S. Tax Code Privileges White Families

    by Dorothy A. Brown

    The history of the married-filing-jointly tax return is one of affluent white families securing advantages through the tax code that working class families, including most Black taxpayers, were unable to realize. After the expansion of income taxation during World War II, this disparity became a significant source of inequality. 


  • NYT Reports Trump's Leaked Tax Returns

    The report, based on Trump's leaked tax records, indicates that he routinely used business losses to avoid taxes, but also has significant mortgage debts due in the near future. 


  • A Wealth Tax? Two Framers Weigh In

    by Ray Raphael

    Wealth taxes are on the current political table and hotly debated. All taxation was on the framers’ table as they considered a new constitution. What would they make of the measures we are considering now?


  • Let’s Tax the Rich

    by Lawrence Wittner

    The public thinks they’re taxed too little and history shows the economy benefits when taxes are higher.



  • How Tax Policy Created the 1%

    by Julia Ott

    The Revenue Act of 1921 introduced a preferential or reduced tax rate on income from capital gains into the U.S. tax code, in a reversal of how policymakers had thought about different forms of income for several decades.



  • When Congress Made Taxes Fairer

    by Bill Bradley

    With President Trump now talking about overhauling the tax code, it’s worth reflecting on the last time Congress revamped the system: the Tax Reform Act of 1986.



  • All the Presidents' Taxes

    by Kevin M. Kruse

    As you file your taxes this week—and as the president talks up tax reform—get riled up all over again about his refusal to release his returns with a brief history of this now-discarded presidential tradition.