Who Gets to be a “Taxpayer?”

1. Who Gets to be a “Taxpayer?” Camille Walsh 9/28/19

3. September 27, 2019 • “I’m a taxpayer – you work for me!” • Former ICE Director Thomas Homan, to Representative PramilaJayapal

4. Key Questions: • Who calls themselves a “taxpayer” and in what conditions? • Everyone and no one… • What is the relationship between racial inequality and claims of “taxpayer” rights? • An alibi for inequality • Coded language of whiteness

5. Racial Taxation • “Taxpayer citizenship” racial consciousness in 20th century US history • Has been deployed by those protesting segregation and inequality and those defending segregation – public conception v. private/individual conception • “Racial taxation” in property tax funding as an integral foundation for both unequal schools and educational segregation

6. “Taxpayer” Identity MMT exposes the way politics, not currency, links taxing and spending Making choices not to fund, rather than constrained by lack of funds Taxpayer is not a useful form of political solidarity or identity Historicity missing from most “taxpayer” arguments – because it illustrates the separateness of taxing and spending

7. Racial Taxation • Educational finance and property tax systems in the U.S. have remained largely in place from the late 19th century • Segregated schools built on a structure of segregated funds and local taxation methods • Unique system that ties educational resources to local funding systems and reaffirms the link between taxing and spending for the public • Secession movements today based on this structure

8. San Antonio School District v. Rodriguez (1973) • Litigation by low-income Mexican American families challenging property tax caps for school finance • Three claims at issue for plaintiffs • Discrimination based on race • Discrimination based on wealth • Education as a fundamental right – relied on the taxpaying “threshold” argument for equality • Court rules there is no right to education, poverty is not a protected class, and ignores the race claim entirely

9. Property Tax Financing High-poverty areas have lower home values and – even if they tax at a higher rate – collect less taxes than wealthy communities with million dollar homes Since the 1970s, almost every state has had litigation over equitable education because of heavy reliance on local property taxes and lack of federal remedy High-poverty districts today spend 15.6 percent less per student than low-poverty districts

10. Double Taxation In the early 20th century, in many states including Mississippi, Georgia, and Oklahoma, property owned by black families and property owned by white families were taxed equally for school levies “Color-blind” taxation

11. Covington County, Mississippi, 1925 Most property owned by African Americans was in the “overlap” area of two school districts, and was therefore taxed twice – once to support the white Calhoun schools and again for the black Hopewell schools Careful district line drawing meant that absolutely no white-owned property was taxed in support of the Hopewell district Ironies of segregationist claims…

12. In the Mississippi Supreme Court, Judge George Etheridge accused the black families of “laboring under a delusion as to receiving no benefit from the operation of a white school” and stated that it was not necessary for every child to have the same educational advantages Double taxation upheld

13. Muskogee, Oklahoma, 1923 Jacob Jones Jr., student at the Dunbar School Dunbar et al had a total value of $150,000 White schools had a total value of nearly $1.4 million – despite the 1/3 black population of Muskogee Black schools closed early (by months), had minimal course offerings and low teacher pay

14. Jacob Jones Sr. sued, based on the property tax levy for the black schools in 1923 – 1.7 mills The levy to support the white schools in 1923 was 14.8 mills Because taxes were levied equally on all property in Muskogee, regardless of race, black taxpayers spent 90% of their tax dollars to support the segregated white schools Judge held that this was a violation, yet found it “impracticable” to take further action at that point and hoped that the counties would comply in the future

15. Separate/Segregated Taxation In the early 20th century, in many states such as Kentucky, North Carolina, and Virginia, white people were taxed only for white schools, and black people were taxed only for black schools.

16. Kentucky Kentucky had more cases challenging separate schools and separate taxation between Reconstruction and 1940 than any other state In 1918 Mayfield’s black community contested the state policy that designated all corporate property taxes for white schools only State court agreed that “a corporation cannot be said to have color” and held that this violated the equal protection clause

17. Kentucky, continued Within a year, the state legislature passed a law consolidating black and white school boards under a single board (and thus ending separate race-based taxes) White-dominated school boards in many towns then refused to levy any taxes to support black schools, forcing black litigants to again bring suit Inaction continued for 8 years, until in a 1928 case a court ruled that white taxpayers could not be asked to support black schools within previously organized white districts

19. “We are Tax Paying Citizens” “They have burned down our school. We rebuilt it and they burned it down again. Please help us. We are tax paying citizens.”-- A.E. Monroe, Bladenboro, NC, 1936

20. “An American Citizen Who Pays Taxes” • “I am an American citizen who pays taxes to run schools so all the children, black and white, are mine. When the war broke out the other day, you didn’t ask me why I was fighting. We black men fought to defend black as well as white. I don’t want to see white children or black children have to walk, I want to see ‘em all ride.” • -- Childless African American tenant farmer from Virginia, on why he helped purchase school buses through self-imposed taxes, 1930

22. “Whites Pay the Taxes…” • “I am a homeowner and a taxpayer who has worked hard all of his life to be able to pay the taxes…with correspondingly high taxed neighborhood schools…My deep fear is that my son will be bused to a school of much lower standards and run down facilities than the ones that I have helped pay for.” • Letter to Justices from Denver man, 1959 • “I am familiar with all the taxpayers…in the county, and we have about fifty-fifty” but “whites pay a great deal of taxes and blacks do not pay.” • Testimony of Vernon Womack, Prince Edward County tax assessor, 1958

23. “White Tax Dollars” • “Blacks do not have to pay taxes like the white man.” • Letter to Black from Carolyn Gaither, GA, 1969 • “Their schooling is primarily a result of white tax dollars.” • Unsigned letter to Justice Black, 1956 • “Families here are losing their rights to their public school system – we are hard working citizens who have been paying taxes for many years.” • Open letter from Mrs. Matt J. Schmidt of MI, 1969

24. Conclusion • Blair Bill (1882-1890) – introduced the idea of granting federal aid to the states as direct appropriations from the national treasury, passed the Senate with a huge majority in 1884 but was never brought to a vote in the House • Today, the Department of Education still only provides about 8% of funds for K-12 education Thank you!