Modern Vectors of Economic Oppression Taxation
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Welcome to our 15-module series exploring the historic basis of the racial wealth gap as a vehicle for understanding the need for repair.
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“The wealthy may have greater access to political leverage, or they’re better able to utilize the tax appeals process. It’s not necessarily an assessor who’s conniving to overtax certain populations anymore.”
Andrew W. Kahrl, author : “The Black Tax: 150 Years of Theft Exploitation, And Dispossession In America”
Learn about how tax policy affects the racial wealth gap
Summary
Racialized tax policy is a foundational pillar of the racial wealth gap in the United States. Through structurally biased assessments, regressive tax systems, punitive enforcement, and discriminatory public funding mechanisms, Black households are consistently made to pay more while receiving less. These disparities are not incidental — they are the fiscal architecture of racial capitalism. Whether through inflated property taxes, disproportionate IRS audits, or exclusion from school bond benefits, taxation operates as a method of wealth extraction rather than redistribution. When compounded across generations, these mechanisms account for an estimated 15–20% of the persistent racial wealth divide — a multi-trillion-dollar gap encoded through policies presented as race-neutral but weaponized in practice.
Personal Narratives
"The more (Emory University tax law professor Dorothy Brown) began to investigate race and tax policies, the more she connected the dots between how the system puts Black Americans at a disadvantage. “All kinds of things that I never realized before became readily apparent,” she says.
Marriage puts the issue front and center, she says. Most married Americans receive a tax cut, “but there is a significant minority of Americans, when they get married, they pay higher taxes,” she says. “Well, as it turns out, if you look at Census Bureau data, which actually does provide this information by race, you see white married couples are more likely to contribute income … that leads to them getting a tax cut.”
However, Black married couples are more likely to contribute income to the household in a way that leads to higher taxes, Brown says.
For example, “let's say someone makes $50,000. As a single person, their taxes are going to be a certain rate,” she says. “But as a married person with a single wage earner, that $50,000 household is going to wind up paying less taxes than that single wage earner had they remained single.”
Census Bureau data shows single wage-earning families are more likely to be white than Black, she says. For example, many of these types of single wage-earning families consist of a working white man — a person who statistically holds a higher paying job than any other identity, she says — and a woman who stays home with the children.
“On the other hand, the couple where both spouses are working full time and contributing roughly equal amounts to household income, they don't get a tax cut,” she says. “That couple is more likely to be Black than white.
Interview Highlights
On her parents’ experience with taxes as a Black married couple, both contributing income to the household
“So I'm doing as any good daughter with an [Master of Laws degree] in tax does — our parents’ tax returns — and I'm seeing something's wrong. I'm doing my taxes, and I made, by myself, roughly what my parents made combined. … I was paying more, but not that much more. And I always came away from doing our returns thinking something's wrong and I can't figure it out. And this went on and on until I became a professor and started looking at race and tax. And the very first thing I wrote about was the marriage penalty and the marriage bonus. And it explained why my parents were paying so much in taxes. It was because their incomes were very close together.”
'The Whiteness Of Wealth' Probes Why Black Americans Pay Higher Taxes | Here & Now
Timelines of Disparity
Taxation as Racial Control: A Timeline of Anti‑Black Disparities in U.S. Tax Policy (with clean links)
1865–1877: Emancipation & Reconstruction
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Promise of Land Access & Early Dispossession Pressures — With emancipation, there was a narrow window where formerly enslaved people could attempt to acquire land under acts like the Southern Homestead Act of 1866. But bureaucratic resistance, widespread violence, poverty, and discriminatory local practices undercut these opportunities. Southern Homestead Act of 1866 - Wikipedia
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Early Tools of Extraction & Control — Though formal “tax‑code” documentation is sparse, the same period saw the emergence of local ordinances analogous to “vagrancy taxes” and penal fines aimed disproportionately at Black people to criminalize poverty and justify seizure or sale of property (or labor). Historical analyses point to the long‑term consequences of these mechanisms. Vagrancy Act of 1866 - Encyclopedia Virginia
Late 19th Century–Early 20th Century: Disenfranchisement & Property Loss via Tax Mechanisms
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Poll Taxes as Civic Exclusion — In multiple Southern states, the imposition of poll taxes served to disenfranchise Black voters while extracting revenue. The poll tax became a financial barrier to political participation. The Poll Tax before Jim Crow on JSTOR
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Tax Delinquency & Tax-Sale Mechanisms Targeting Black Landowners — Over generations, many Black families lost land as counties sold “delinquent” property after unpaid taxes. Legal frameworks around delinquency and tax‑sale procedures — frequently biased or administered without adequate notice or access — contributed to massive Black land loss. A recent legal‑historical review documents how these processes disproportionately impacted heirs’ property (a common form of Black land tenure). How Property Tax Foreclosure Accelerates Gentrification and Magnifies the Racial Wealth Gap | Yale Insights
1930s–1960s: Institutionalized Segregation, Redlining, and Property‑Tax Inequities
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State-Sponsored Redlining and Devaluation of Black Neighborhoods — Under policies associated with the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and the Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC), racially coded “residential security maps” systematically marked Black neighborhoods as high-risk (“red‑lined”). This blocked mortgage access, reduced property values, and ensured Black neighborhoods remained underinvested. New Evidence on Redlining by Federal Housing Programs in the 1930s | NBER
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Discriminatory Property Assessments & Tax Burdens — Evidence shows that properties in Black neighborhoods have long been over-assessed even as their market value was suppressed, resulting in disproportionate property tax burdens on Black homeowners or residents. Exploring the Nexus of Property Taxes, Housing Disparities and Educational Access for Black and Brown Youth in Major U.S. Cities » Congressional Black Caucus Foundation » Advancing the Global Black Community by Developing Leaders Informing Policy and Educating the Public
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Undermined Wealth Building & Educational Disparities — Because property taxes often fund public services and schools, under-valuation and under-investment in Black neighborhoods translated into chronically underfunded schools and infrastructure — deepening racial inequity not only in wealth, but in social reproduction. The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America - Zinn Education Project
Late 20th Century (1970s–1990s): Continued Extraction, Tax Loopholes, and Disinvestment
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Persistent Structural Tax Inequities in Housing — The legacy of segregated zoning, redlining, and unequal assessment meant that property tax and wealth accumulation remained skewed, disadvantaging Black households even if “ownership” nominally increased. How the property tax system harms Black homeowners and widens the racial wealth gap | Brookings
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Tax Sales, Heirs’ Property Vulnerability, and Dispossession — Many Black families held property as “heirs’ property” (shared among descendants, often without formal title). When taxes or assessments were missed — due to economic marginalization or bureaucratic complexity — counties frequently sold properties, displacing families. This problem persists and has been recently documented in legal scholarship. Black Lands Matter: The Movement to Transform Heirs’ Property Laws | The Nation
1990s–Present: Modern-Day Discriminatory Taxation, Assessment Bias, and Wealth Drain
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Continued Over-Assessment + Undervaluation in Black Neighborhoods — Recent analyses show Black homeowners continue to pay disproportionately high property taxes even while their properties are undervalued compared to comparable homes in white neighborhoods. How the property tax system harms Black homeowners and widens the racial wealth gap | Brookings
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Racialized Wealth Gap Widened by Tax System — Because property taxes, combined with other systems (housing discrimination, segregation, disinvestment), erode the ability of Black households to build stable equity — homes do not appreciate evenly, or equity gains are offset by disproportionate tax burdens and structural devaluation. Taxes and Racial Equity: An Overview of State and Local Policy Impacts – ITEP
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Legacy of Segregation Embedded in Tax & Housing Policies — The history of state-enforced segregation, discriminatory housing policy, uneven tax assessment, and disinvestment has produced a structural architecture that continues to extract value from Black communities while denying the benefits of property ownership, community investment, and intergenerational wealth. New Report Exposes Tax System’s Role in Widening Racial Wealth Gap, Calls for Urgent Reforms - The San Diego Voice & Viewpoint
Metrics
Tax policy in the United States functions not just as a fiscal instrument but as a deeply racialized structure of wealth containment. Across multiple domains—property taxes, audits, foreclosure processes, and sales tax exposure—Black households are systematically overburdened and under-returned. Black homeowners are up to three times more likely to be over-assessed on property taxes, pay more relative to their home’s value, and face higher rates of tax lien foreclosure, often without legal protection. Additionally, Black taxpayers—particularly those claiming credits like the EITC—are audited by the IRS at rates up to five times higher than their white counterparts. At the same time, majority-Black school districts receive dramatically less per student in funding, primarily because of property tax disparities. Together, these tax-coded harms reinforce historical exclusions—such as redlining and the denial of GI Bill benefits—and compound wealth loss across generations.
Overall Contribution to the Racial Wealth Gap
Estimates show that racialized taxation accounts for approximately 15–20% of the enduring racial wealth gap in the United States. This means that between one-sixth and one-fifth of the disparity—currently calculated as a 10:1 wealth ratio between white and Black households—is not simply inherited from past injustices, but actively sustained by present-day tax policy. These compounding effects represent trillions of dollars in extracted or foregone Black wealth. Though often framed in race-neutral language, the structure of the U.S. tax system continues to function as a mechanism of racialized economic control.
Methods of Tax Discrimination:
Audit Rates Higher for Black Taxpayers
Mechanism of Discrimination:
multiple studies, including a prominent 2023 Stanford University research paper, found that Black taxpayers are audited by the IRS at significantly higher rates—about three to five times more often—than non-Black taxpayers, even when accounting for factors like income and family size. The disparity is largely driven by internal IRS algorithms and enforcement practices, especially for those claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), though Black taxpayers claiming the EITC are audited more frequently than their non-Black EITC-claiming counterparts.
Sources:
Capital Gains Tax Exemptions
Mechanism of Discrimination:
Taxing capital gains at lower rates than income favors generational asset holders — disproportionately white — while Black communities, historically excluded from land, stock, and inheritance systems, derive most income from wages. Thus, labor is taxed while wealth is protected, reinforcing the racial wealth gap.
Sources:
Carceral Fees and Fines
Mechanism of Discrimination:
In Black-majority municipalities, city budgets are often funded by excessive policing, court fees, and code enforcement. These carceral tax mechanisms criminalize poverty, generate cascading debt, and extract income through arrest, not equity.
Sources:
Depreciation Loopholes in Real Estate
Mechanism of Discrimination:
Landlords, overwhelmingly white and corporate, deduct depreciation on property that appreciates in value — legally reducing taxes while tenants, disproportionately Black, pay inflated rent. The tax code incentivizes ownership and penalizes displacement without restitution.
Sources:
Homestead Exemptions and Property Tax Inequity
Mechanism of Discrimination:
A residential homestead exemption is a state-provided tax benefit and legal protection for a homeowner's primary residence, reducing its taxable value (lowering property taxes) and shielding a portion of its equity from creditors, bankruptcy, or forced sale, with specific amounts and eligibility (often for seniors, disabled individuals, or veterans) varying by state.
Black homeowners often face higher property assessments and lower exemption access due to administrative hurdles or outright denial. This double burden increases tax bills in neighborhoods already underserved by public investment.
Sources:
Mill Levy Bonds for Infrastructure Projects
Mechanism of Discrimination:
Mill levies and property taxes contribute to infrastructure inequities in Black neighborhoods through a cycle of devalued property, disproportionately high tax assessments, and reduced public service funding. This is compounded by historical discriminatory practices that intentionally built harmful infrastructure, such as highways, through these communities. Public infrastructure projects are often funded by mill levy bonds — voter-approved tax increases. These funds overwhelmingly benefit wealthier, whiter districts with political leverage, while Black neighborhoods face chronic underinvestment, disrepair, and environmental degradation.
Sources:
Property Tax Funding of Public Schools
Mechanism of Discrimination:
Education funding tied to local property taxes locks in racial inequity. Wealthy, white neighborhoods accrue higher tax bases and better schools. Meanwhile, Black districts — victims of housing devaluation and disinvestment — receive less funding despite equal or higher tax burdens.
Sources:
Sales Tax Overreliance
Mechanism of Discrimination:
States with large Black populations often favor regressive sales taxes over income or wealth taxes. Since Black households spend a higher proportion of income on consumables, they are disproportionately taxed — even for basics like food and hygiene.
Sources:
Tax Credit Barriers
Mechanism of Discrimination:
Credits like the EITC and Child Tax Credit are out of reach for many Black families due to job instability, misclassification, or bureaucratic denial. IRS audit rates are also higher in Black ZIP codes, intensifying stress and reducing uptake.
Sources:
Tax Lien Sales
Mechanism of Discrimination:
Local governments often auction unpaid property tax debt to private buyers, triggering mass foreclosure in Black neighborhoods. Instead of providing support or restructuring, cities monetize crisis and extract generational assets.
Sources:
Taxpayer-Funded Subsidies to Developers
Mechanism of Discrimination:
Programs like Tax Increment Financing (TIF) redirect public funds from schools, infrastructure and services in Black neighborhoods toward luxury developments. These subsidies overwhelmingly benefit white-led development in gentrifying zones while accelerating displacement in Black neighborhoods.
Sources:
Unequal State and Local Tax Burdens
Mechanism of Discrimination:
Many states impose higher effective tax rates on low-income earners than the wealthy. Given racialized income disparities, this means Black residents pay a larger share of their income to taxes while receiving fewer services in return.
Sources:
Zoning-Based Taxation and Service Disparities
Mechanism of Discrimination:
Zoning laws shape tax allocations. Black communities are often zoned for industrial or “transitional” use, lowering land value and reducing investment. Yet their residents still pay taxes into systems that underfund their neighborhoods and schools.
Sources:
Additional Viewing & Reading Materials
Questions for Research and Reflection
Questions for Research and Reflection:
FOR BLACK PEOPLE
Interrogating Extraction, Inheritance, and Resistance
Questions to Consider:
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Has my family ever lost land, housing, or opportunity due to tax foreclosure, over-assessment, or inability to pay property taxes?
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Do I know how much of my income goes to sales taxes, fees, and fines — and how that compares to others in my city or state?
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Have I or my family ever been disproportionately audited, fined, or targeted by tax or carceral enforcement systems?
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Have I received the full value of public goods (like education, sanitation, infrastructure) for the taxes I’ve paid? Why or why not?
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What assumptions have I internalized about taxes as “civic duty” versus taxes as racial extraction?
Research Projects:
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Interview Black elders in your family/community about property loss or tax pressure.
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Map how property taxes in your ZIP code compare to public school funding received.
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Investigate the last five mill levy or infrastructure bonds in your city — who paid, who benefited?
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Track how much of your state’s revenue comes from fines, fees, and regressive taxes — and who bears the brunt.
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Audit whether your neighborhood’s property values have been overassessed, using open data tools.
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FOR WHITE PEOPLE
Unmasking Subsidy, Inheritance, and Unearned Relief
Questions to Consider:
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How has my family benefited from undervalued property taxes, mortgage deductions, or white-coded tax policies?
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Have I ever assumed that tax policy is “race-neutral” or “fair” without examining who it actually favors?
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Do I receive better public services (schools, roads, policing) than communities that pay similar or higher taxes?
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How have policies like Prop 13, SALT deductions, or homeownership tax breaks reinforced white wealth in my life?
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Have I ever challenged racist assumptions about “taxpayer fairness” in conversations, media, or policy?
Research Projects:
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Trace intergenerational tax benefits in your family: mortgage interest deductions, college savings, home appraisals, etc.
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Compare your effective tax rate to households in majority-Black neighborhoods using ITEP tools.
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Investigate the racial demographics of beneficiaries from local infrastructure or bond projects you voted for.
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Research IRS audit data by race and income — and reflect on why white collar evasion is rarely punished.
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Attend a local school board or city budget hearing — whose voices shape how tax dollars are spent?
🧭 FOR ALL PEOPLE
Centering Accountability, Liberation, and Structural Change
Questions to Consider:
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Who benefits most from the current tax code? Who pays the most? Who receives the least?
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How do assumptions about "fairness" in taxation obscure structural inequality and racialized extraction?
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What does a tax system built on liberation — not compliance or punishment — look like?
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How are carceral logics (fines, penalties, enforcement) embedded in my local and state tax structures?
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What role can reparative taxation play in repairing intergenerational economic violence?
Research Projects:
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Host a community teach-in on racial tax justice using publicly available data and lived experiences.
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Use local assessor data to map overassessment and compare outcomes by race.
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Investigate the racial and class demographics of who receives tax abatements, incentives, or subsidies in your city.
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Build a participatory budget model that centers equity — who gets to decide how tax dollars are spent?
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Explore Indigenous taxation frameworks or African ancestral economic models outside Western extractive paradigms.
Reckoning with an Unjust Past: a Spoken Word Series by Veronica Wylie