Dorothy A. Brown

Race and Class Matters in Tax Policy

The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) which is available only to low-income workers, is headed for extinction or at least the end of the EITC as we know it. Recently we were informed that 1.6 million low-income taxpayers had their tax refunds frozen over the last five years, although the vast majority did nothing wrong. Low-income taxpayers are far more likely to be audited than their high income counterparts. In fact, since 1998 over

The Tax Treatment of Children: Separate but Unequal

1 billion has been spent auditing low-income taxpayers. This Essay shows that the EITC is headed for extinction because the EITC has a welfare taint. The EITC first received a welfare taint during the Clinton Administration and it has continued during the Bush Administration. In order to reverse the trend, EITC taxpayers will have to be painted in a more sympathetic or deserving light. This Essay suggests that the truth actually will help here, given that the racial analysis of the EITC shows that the vast majority of EITC taxpayers are white. Because scholars have ignored the race and class effects of the EITC, they offer no solution to improve the plight of low-income taxpayers. Building upon Professor Derrick Bells interest-convergence thesis, I predict that if the race and class information can be properly packaged, the EITCs elimination can be prevented.

Race, Class, and Gender Essentialism in Tax Literature: The Joint Return

Tax credits for children are found in two separate tax provisions. The Earned income tax credit (EITC) and the Child Tax Credit (CTC) are similar in many ways, yet in crucial respects EITC recipients are disadvantaged when compared with CTC recipients. This piece seeks an explanation for the disparity and ultimately finds that the only plausible explanation is a race based one. Politicians recently played the race card by analogizing the EITC to welfare. Academics argue without empirical support that low-income taxpayers who receive the EITC are Black and disproportionately benefit from the credit. This Article provides the first comprehensive empirical analysis of low-income taxpayers and shows that the majority of EITC- eligible taxpayers are White and that a greater percentage of Blacks are EITC- ineligible than are EITC-eligible. EITC provisions that disadvantage EITC recipients will disadvantage Whites. By making the earned income tax credit a problem of low-income Blacks, academics and politicians have ignored the larger class issue. This Article, by taking account of race in order to move beyond it, reveals that real EITC reform is possible and argues that CTC benefits currently available only to middle income children should be available to low-income children.