Freshman Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) seemed to endorse the idea that black Americans should be exempt from paying taxes as a form of reparations for the injustices of slavery.
During an interview with The Black Lawyers’ Podcast, Crockett said she heard the idea of exempting taxes for black Americans from a celebrity. She said it “[wasn’t] necessarily a bad idea.”
“One of the things they propose is black folk not have to pay taxes for a certain amount of time because that puts money back in your pocket,” Crockett told the host J. Carter.
However, Crockett points out limitations to the plan, such as some black Americans being too poor and already not paying taxes.
“If you do the no-tax thing, for people that are already, say, struggling and not paying taxes in the first place, it doesn’t really—” Crockett said when Carter interrupted to suggest that people “may want those checks like they got from COVID.”
Crockett argues that reparations are necessary and that more studies on the matter and investments must be done.
“So many black folk, not only do you owe for the labor that was stolen and killed and all the other things, but the fact is we end up being so far behind,” Crockett said.
Reparations task forces have been established in major cities like San Francisco, St. Louis, Missouri; Boston; and St. Paul, Minnesota, as well as the entire state of California. However, reparations have yet to be implemented.
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Last week the Washington Examiner reported that the Tennessee state legislature will vote on Wednesday on whether or not to bar the allocations of funds to study or distribute reparations. The legislation is being led by Republicans who argue that reparations should be a federal issue, not a state or county one.
In addressing the issue at a national level, Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) introduced a $14 trillion reparations bill to the House last year.