The Whiteness of Wealth

How the Tax System Impoverishes Black Americans--and How We Can Fix It

By: Dorothy A. Brown

Narrated by: Karen Murray

A groundbreaking exposé of racism in the American taxation system from a law professor and expert on tax policy

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR AND FORTUNE • “Important reading for those who want to understand how inequality is built into the bedrock of American society, and what a more equitable future might look like.”—Ibram X. Kendi, #1 New York Times bestselling author of How to Be an Antiracist

Dorothy A. Brown became a tax lawyer to get away from race. As a young black girl growing up in the South Bronx, she’d seen how racism limited the lives of her family and neighbors. Her law school classes offered a refreshing contrast: Tax law was about numbers, and the only color that mattered was green. But when Brown sat down to prepare tax returns for her parents, she found something strange: James and Dottie Brown, a plumber and a nurse, seemed to be paying an unusually high percentage of their income in taxes. When Brown became a law professor, she set out to understand why.

In The Whiteness of Wealth, Brown draws on decades of cross-disciplinary research to show that tax law isn’t as color-blind as she’d once believed. She takes us into her adopted city of Atlanta, introducing us to families across the economic spectrum whose stories demonstrate how American tax law rewards the preferences and practices of white people while pushing black people further behind. From attending college to getting married to buying a home, black Americans find themselves at a financial disadvantage compared to their white peers. The results are an ever-increasing wealth gap and more black families shut out of the American dream.

Solving the problem will require a wholesale rethinking of America’s tax code. But it will also require both black and white Americans to make different choices. This urgent, actionable book points the way forward.

Tremendous facts hidden in plain sight.

Very sober explanation of the lasting financial consequences of past errors. I'm hopeful many will take the suggestions made to make a more equitable future for us all. We can only do this together.

Incredible and heartbreaking

So much resonated with my experience and not knowing how to navigate certain things without recognizing it as an inequity. Opened my eyes to another level.

Knowledge is Power

Wow, I'm speechless. Dorothy unveils another invisibilized pillar that upholds systemic racism and the status quo. You won't be able to un-see it.

Concrete examples of systemic racism

Systemic racism is everywhere; however, this helped shine a light on many concrete examples that don’t make the headlines. The far-reaching implications for generations of BIPOC but specifically African-Americans ultimately affect all of us and the sooner we can change the system, the better. I feel better equipped to advocate for reforms. Thank you, Professor Brown!

EXCELLENT MUST READ FOR ALL

Loved being enlightened by this book. I feel empowered to advocate for a refundable tax credit for less wealthy individuals and families, thereby providing a mechanism to begin to erase the ethnic and racial wealth divides.