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Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gormé.

Slouching Towards Tax Day

How did taxes become something we "do"?
War tax alternate fund information form.

Death and Taxes

The long history and contemporary relevance of war tax resistance.
Cleveland-Stevenson Tariff Reform Portrait Handkerchief

Tax Regimes

Historian Robin Einhorn reflects on Americans’ complicated relationship to taxes, from the colonial period through the Civil War to the tax revolts of the 1980s.
Hand throwing crumpled dollar bills into pile

Extravagances of Neoliberalism

On how the fringe ideas of a set of American neoliberals became a new and pervasive way of life.
American flag sign that reads "NWRO," "I support a guaranteed adequate income for all Americans"

Escape from the Market

Far from spelling the end of anti-market politics, basic income proposals are one place where it can and has flourished.
Political cartoon of the Lincoln Administration, reading "Running the 'Machine'", 1864.

Blues, Grays & Greenbacks

How Lincoln's administration financed the Civil War and transformed the nation's decentralized economy into the global juggernaut of the postwar centuries.
Graph of tax rates on top marginal earned income vs. long term capital gains, 1918-2020.

Why Is Wealth White?

In the 20th century, a moral economy of “whites-only” wealth animated federal policies and programs that created the propertied white middle class.
Federal Reserve Note featuring Salmon Chase held by the National Numismatic Collection, National Museum of American History

The War with Inflation and the Confederacy

During the Civil War, the Lincoln administration demonstrated that a progressive agenda and effective anti-inflationary measures could overlap.
Joe Biden signing a document
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Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act Exposes Our Allergy to Taxes

The rise of a new tax politics has made it harder to address our problems, and now it threatens democracy, too.
John D. Rockefeller Jr., right, was the country's biggest taxpayer in 1923, when public disclosure of tax payments was required by law. President Calvin Coolidge, left, pushed Congress to repeal the disclosure law in 1926. This photo was taken in 1925.

Americans’ Taxes Used To Be Public — Until the Rich Revolted

Thanks to the efforts of wealthy taxpayers, the "big reveal" of the 1920s was extremely short-lived.
Painting of people on a fishing boat

A Cosmic Lie

A conversation about "Davos Man: How the Billionaires Devoured the World."
A political cartoon lampooning the “robber baron” monopolists’ exploitation of laborers, 1883

When Americans Liked Taxes

The idea of liberty has often seemed to mean freedom from government and its spending. But there is an alternate history, one just as foundational and defining.

We Can’t Blame the South Alone for Anti-Tax Austerity Politics

The legacy of slavery is often invoked to explain the stunted welfare state. But the strongest resistance to taxation and redistribution came from the Northern ruling class.

The US Tax Code Should Not Allow Billionaires to Exist

The recent ProPublica exposé shows we need to attack the wealth and power of the rich — and that means massively increasing taxes on them.
Person on beach with a cigar in their mouth and holding money in their hand

The End of Empire and the Rise of Tax Havens

How decolonisation propelled the growth of low-tax jurisdictions, with lasting economic implications for former colonies.

Taxing the Superrich

For the sake of justice and democracy, we need a progressive wealth tax.

Trump's Taxes are Fair Game. Just Ask Warren G. Harding.

The Teapot Dome scandal resulted in a 1924 law that gives the House Ways and Means Committee authority to demand returns.

The Deeper Problem Behind the Sale of a Posh San Francisco Street

The news that a posh San Francisco street was sold for delinquent taxes exposes the deeper issue with America’s local revenue system.

The Notion of Tax Reform in Historical Perspective

President Trump's tax plan may be "great", but it will likely not be truly transformative.

How Tax Policy Created the 1%

For nearly a century, American tax policy has privileged the investor class and advanced the accumulation of white wealth.

All the Presidents' Taxes

Get riled up again about Trump's refusal to release his returns with a brief history of this now-discarded presidential tradition.
Income tax form

Tax Time

Why we pay.
Donald Trump at a podium

The New Trumpian Bargain

Trump's second term echoes 19th-century policies: tariffs and immigration limits protect workers, while deregulation risks widening inequality.
An illustration of a family tree that is filled with money.

The Getty Family’s Trust Issues

Heirs to an iconic fortune sought out a wealth manager who would assuage their progressive consciences. Now their dispute is exposing dynastic secrets.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) at a podium.
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Dark Money in Politics is a Problem. History Points to a Solution.

Everyone would benefit from new rules forcing greater transparency in political donations.
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Democrats Can Counter GOP Warnings About ‘Armies’ of Tax Collectors

An alternative tradition in our politics has long helped convince Americans that tax enforcement is good.
Drawing of a crowd of delegates at the 1972 Democratic National Convention. (Franklin McMahon / Getty Images)

A Big Tent

The contradictory past and uncertain future of the Democratic Party.
The Supreme Court behind trees

When the Supreme Court Makes a Mistake

The history of the Supreme Court is replete with outrages and abominations, but they can be tough to overcome.
Donald Trump speaking at a meeting with small businesspeople at the White House on January 30, 2017.

Family Capitalism and the Small Business Insurrection

The increasingly militant right supports the private, unincorporated, and family-based versus the corporate, publicly traded, and shareholder-owned.
Pile of US paper currency.

Austerity Policies In The United States Caused ‘Stagflation’ In The 1970s

U.S. government policies must continue to support physical and social infrastructure spending amid the continuing pandemic to avoid ‘stagflation’.

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