Categories
education and schooling tax policy

Race, Ignorance, Racism

Not spending millions more to hire and train swarms of Internal Revenue Service agents to poke, audit, investigate and squeeze more tax dollars from wealthier Americans would be — you knew this was coming — racist

That’s the new argument for siccing the IRS on wealthier Americans; they’re more likely to be white than black.

“The federal government is losing billions in unpaid taxes,” informs a Washington Post headline, “in part due to racial disparities in the tax code.”

What racially based inequalities, precisely?

“The inequity rests on long-established tax breaks that favor White Americans over Black Americans in three areas — marriage, homeownership and retirement, according to Dorothy A. Brown, an Emory University law professor,” writes Post columnist Joe Davidson. Because, for instance, “White people . . . are much more likely to be homeowners,” and more likely than blacks “to work for companies that offer tax favored retirement plans.”

Davidson offered no further discussion of marriage.

One can argue for or against hiring more IRS agents. (I’m against.) But to calculate the merits based on the skin color of the people most likely to be investigated is . . . racist.

Where does such skewed logic lead?

“The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) is moving to eliminate all accelerated math options prior to 11th grade,” Fox News reports, “effectively keeping higher-achieving students from advancing as they usually would in the school system.”

This statewide policy designed to hurt so many individual students — and to help none — is predicated on closing a racial gap in math performance. By knee-capping the higher performing students of all races.*

So which is worse? That it’s a human rights violation . . . or that it is so incredibly stupid?

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob. 


* As a candidate in this year’s Virginia House elections explained to The Federalist, the proposed statewide policy “is incredibly belittling, arrogant, and racist in assuming that children of color cannot reach advanced classes in math.”

PDF for printing

Screenshot from Harrison Bergeron

See all recent commentary
(simplified and organized)

See recent popular posts

3 replies on “Race, Ignorance, Racism”

Intentionally harassing or handicapping the successful will not advance the progress of society.

These policies are a denial of individuality, self-responsibility, self-advancement and the rewarding for excellence. They are ultimately based on the denial of the uniqueness of every human being, natural law, or, if you chose, ensoulment.

Such policies and their underlying motivations cannot lead positive results.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *