April 15, 2024
Though some conservative media outlets and right-wing social media accounts tried to say Rep. Crockett suggested that Black people not pay taxes as a form of reparations, Rep. Crockett did no such thing.
During a March 29 episode of the Black Lawyers Podcast, Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) briefly discussed the topic of reparations during an interview. Though some conservative media outlets and right-wing social media accounts attempted to argue that Rep. Crockett suggested that Black people should not pay taxes as a form of reparations, Crockett did no such thing, NewsOne reports.
According to Rep. Crockett, the idea of Black people not paying taxes came from an unnamed celebrity (the latest celebrity whose comments generated a discussion on reparations was Terrence Howard) and the caveat from this celebrity was that Black Americans would have a certain period of time set aside to be exempted from paying taxes. This idea, Rep. Crockett said during the podcast, was not without merit, but was an idea that would have to be carefully considered regarding how it could be implemented.
Rep. Crockett remarked that the idea of withholding taxes may be more palatable to those who object to giving Black people money, before pivoting to a short discussion of how tax brackets would be affected. Rep. Crockett seemed to indicate in the interview that the poorest of Black Americans are not really contributing that much to the tax base in the grand scheme of things, so the no-tax idea isn’t as far-fetched as some would like to think.
Rep. Crockett was also concerned about the way that the current reparations debate plays out in the political arena, saying that instead of both sides using preconceived notions about what reparations would look like, emphasis needs to be placed on studying and gathering data. Rep. Crockett also clearly stated that she believes that the United States has a moral obligation to pay descendants of enslaved people reparations, but she believes that the federal government needs to be the ones establishing policy and not individual states.
Similar to Andrew Gillum, the former mayor of Tallahassee, Florida, who ran for governor opposite current Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2018, Crockett holds a political office so it would likely not be well-received if she were to publicly advocate for no taxation. On a mini-pod of the Native Land Podcast focusing on taxes in March, Gillum told his co-hosts Angela Rye and Tiffany D. Cross, “I was a locally elected official guys, I can’t be like against taxation. Taxation goes—not to mention, my kids are in public school, paid for by my taxes that I pay on my house.”
RELATED CONTENT: Debate Over Taxes And Reparations: Insights From Tiffany Cross, Angela Rye, And Andrew Gillum
