Tax Expert Dorothy Brown: “The System Is Designed For White Wealth” | Amanpour and Company 

"To be black and conscious in America is to always be in a constant state of rage." James Baldwin

The entire global financial system is cannibalistic.

Every time racial inequality comes up, LBJ's quote comes to mind "If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you." Working class, middle class, and poor Americans of all races have more in common with each other than we'll ever have with the rich, yet we let the rich control the narrative... And the tax code... And the laws in general.... 🤦

In summary, we need to learn the tax code/rules as it applies to us personally instead of being shocked every April 15th.

Thank you for bringing this to the pubic's attention. I work in financial services and have witnessed premature IRA distributions but never understood why this happened to African Americans. I had experienced transferring out of public schools to private schools, as my local school district merged with less affluent school districts due to busing in the 1970s, white neighborhoods worrying about real estate depreciation as black people moved in, and never questioned anything as a young person, such as lower capital gains tax rates. While I can see how these policies can affect any poor person regardless of race, it helps to see how this affect the lives of black people in this video. These videos help understand historical perspective. I have one African American client (who I like and respect tremendously) who did raise the issue of discriminatory lending practices of a regional bank, but I was not aware of it. Throughout the pandemic, I've spent more time understanding the racial issues afflicting the country, which creates more empathy and awareness of the challenges faced by minorities, and to vote accordingly to help all Americans.

I got the book and I have been recommended to every working Black man and Black woman that I come across. My mind was blown when I read the book. Thanks for such great book.

A weath tax break would be good. I remember when tax preparers started telling married clients to look at filing separately to reduce taxes, congress changed the law to thwart those efforts.

Here, in Canada, everyone files their own taxes (married or not) but if your spouse doesn't have income, you can claim a deduction for them on their taxes. We don't pay tax on increased values of our house, when we sell it, but only for the house you live in. If you own multiple properties, you pay tax on selling other ones. The biggest issue, to me, is school tax. Here, in Canada, you pay your school tax to the province and then they dole the money out to each school on a per student basis. In the US, the school tax is collected in and used in each school region. That means people living in expensive neighborhoods have more money in their schools, where here, every school has the same amount per student.

Let RENTERS deduct things they're subsidizing for slumlords and watch things change. The rent is too damn high. You're paying SOMEONE ELSE'S MORTGAGE but can't get ANY tax benefits for it. Seems like it's a fixed system, all right.

Very Informative as a Senior Black Consultant IT,TAX, Finance & Education. I always was concerned about Blacks in US especially after doing my Grandparents Will finding we were $Millionaires & paying IRS over $100,000 Taxes. I'm having a serious conversation with my Black Accountant whom first Woman in Wall Street Finance. Love to meet Ms. Brown great research facts Black Americans Taxes vs White Americans

When I was first starting out in my marriage, a white woman I worked with told me that she and her man were not married because of the marriage penalty in taxes. They both worked very hard, and I think they did okay filing separately, but I suspect they still ended up paying a lot in taxes. My wife and I seemed to have a different experience with our tax situation, as I continued to be the sole breadwinner as an engineer, and she continued taking care of our six children. We started out terribly poor but we stuck with the lifestyle we had chosen. I always used turbotax to file my taxes, and somewhere in my experimentation with the inputs in turbotax, I picked up on the idea that our tax situation seemed better on one income than on two. Over the years we've focused on working to improve my earning power along the way and it sounds like this may have amounted to a good tax strategy rather than teaming up on incomes. This video is interesting to me because now I'm thinking of my parents who both worked to support the family, and then continued all the way to retirement age, and must have been penalized in their taxes the whole way. The role of sole breadwinner feels like a serious burden to me at times, but I guess it has good tax implications. I do prefer the lifestyle that my wife and I have chosen. I feel like it's been really good for our kids to have a full-time mom. I think this video confirms that this lifestyle has also benefited us with a lighter tax burden. The lower tax burden doesn't make us wealthy, but we have been able to pay all our bills so far. The kids are getting older and starting to move out, so we'll have to see what happens to our taxes as the child tax credit disappears (we had all our kids close together in age). From this video I'd like to focus on two points made by the author being interviewed. Point One: The tax code is not written on the basis of race, but our social/cultural/career-related behaviors (decisions) will ultimately affect our tax burden. From this point, I sure hope that people recognize that our cultures do not force our decisions or lifestyles. I would agree that the decision to share the income load is very often a financial necessity in marriage, but we shouldn't assume that necessity to be race-specific. Tax code is tax code. Your tax situation is not race-specific. Any couple of any race can have the benefit or detriment of a given tax provision based on their tax situation. This is not dictated by race unless the code later were to become race-specific (bad idea). This video doesn't spend very much time on the possibility that couples should consider benefiting from such a tax situation, if it is afterall the lifestyle choice that their family would prefer anyway. I suspect that most married couples would want to know that they could have the life they really want at a similar or even less-expensive cost. Why pretend that it has been denied to someone because of their race when their race does not prevent them from taking advantage? Raising a family is not easy. Most families could use any help they can get. Spread the word about this tax benefit. Point Two: A revision to the tax code could help lower-earning couples regardless of their race. If taxes can be reduced on people who are working too hard to get by, I'm in favor of that change. But these two points considered, I would make the point that if the tax code was originally written with the objective to favor one race by reducing taxes on single-earner households, then it has certainly failed to do so as all races in America seem to headed more and more toward two-earner households, just to get by. I hope that the original tax code decision was not a race-based one, but I accept there may be more to the story than was covered in this video. I'll make another point though: If the government is taxing us too much, why are we making this a discussion of race? I get that person A may be taxed worse than person B, and we can look at all the statistics in all the races and other categories that we want... but why do we always ignore the injustice of person G who keeps raising taxes on person A and person B in the first place? Why do we assume that the government is entitled to all the money they take? If we were all given more say over our own earnings, wouldn't we all be better off? How much of the tax money goes into the pockets of politicians? If the government is owned and controlled by "the People", why do we merely OBEY? Why don't we join hands and take back control of our government that we inherited? Just to point out, we are technically authorized to tell the government exactly how much they are allowed to take in the first place. Yet we obey the government without question and look at our neighbors like their racism is holding us back? Why focus on how the injustice is distributed rather than reducing/eliminating the injustice? Let's reduce the government's grabbing of private resources. Let's stop looking to the government as if it were mommy or daddy to fix some injustice for us (later, some day in the future, down the road, once we've given it full control over our lives). Americans are so enamored with equality that they would prefer universal slavery to the government, rather than to enjoy freedom of choice. As taxes increase, we lose the value of our freedom. How about we tell the government to pound sand, and limit them to a straight percentage? Taxes kill the economy, which in turn kills the taxes. So, what are we doing? Let's all get rich by putting the government back in its place. Okay, that's my rant. To put my comments in perspective, my recent choice to cash out my retirement to buy a home has me seriously upset about the taxes I'm going to have to pay next year.

This reminds me of the scene in Shawshank Redemption when Tim Robbins is about to get thrown off of the roof and he asks the prison guars if he trusts his wife. The accountant hiding prison Guard's money in the wife's name.

The system is not designed for us. It never ever was.

The first point she is referring to is called the marriage penalty. Her research shows that this penalty disproportionately hurts black American families because they are more likely to have two income wage earners. There is an easy fix for this. Just get rid of the marriage penalty and make it equitable. Have everyone taxed at married filing separate rates that are aligned with the same tax rates for those filing as an individual. I never understood why the tax code creates such penalties for filing separately. It almost incentivizes people to cohabitate and file single or head of household. The second point on the home loss sale is also interesting. Blacks are more likely to sell at a loss. What a coincidence that the tax code treats home sale gains as capital gains similar to those you would get for selling an long term held stock, but for losses, ZERO capital losses are allowable. Why did they choose that particular asset with such punitive treatment? Another point she didn’t cover was audits. Poor folks are more likely to be audited and black zip codes are at the top of the list. Knowing who all these policies disproportionately hurts the most, it’s actually quite clear why the govt is fine with keeping the status quo. Because its intended result has been achieved.

It's jaw-droppingly informative and eye-opening. Also, it's an honor to have academics and experts like Prof. Dorothy Brown in a position who use their advocacy to expose an evil system designed to keep some of the same people down.

Very informative!. Reparations supported by a Black agenda can go a long way in fixing the wealth gap between Black and White. White conservatives and Liberals alike will combine forces to make sure that doesn't happen.

Best advice, we doing the best we can, pat ourselves on the back for that.

It's the gasligting in the tax code, homeownership, and the list continues, for Black families. It never ends.

Let the truth be told, I realized a while ago that nobody warned me these folks hate our guys, for no other reason, than God made us Black and beautiful. And created a system to suppress us,I remember how old black folks would deride the children but refuse to acknowledge the system we live under. Even to this day. It sickens me, to know how cowardly they were.

Thank you for this interview. It's so very frustrating in the midst as you figure it out in real time of your life. This is valuable information.

I'm so glad there are people like Dorothy Brown who tackle problems like this. It's almost as if these issues are hidden ... buried beneath almost unintelligible tax codes and rules and legalese. Even I, with a BA degree, have trouble figuring out the tax laws. If I were living alone now, I'd probably have to hire someone to help me makes sense of it all. I think the idea is to make it so incomprehensible that no one questions it. And this hurts us all.

I never new that I could deduct $2500 of paid student loan interest...

UncleSam = Uncle ScaM

THE SYSTEM WASN'T DESIGNED FOR US........POWERFUL MESSAGE

The system is designed for those who willing to pay professionals for the best relevant information. My family and even childhood friends are not complaining at all. Churches have collected $800 billion in 10 years and didn't offer any services to provide services to build and expand black wealth.

In addition, campaign finance reform might help, since those who control politics today select for policies that benefit the donor class and shift burdens onto those with the least political influence. A more representative body can craft policy which is more equitable for all Americans.

Reminds me of Robert Kiyosaki's saying: If your house is your biggest asset you're in trouble.

Very interesting, I’ll have to get her book!

Such an informative discussion, particularly on the homeownership side. Thank you Dorothy Brown for sharing such enlightening information!

I flunked out of college and joined the army and had the Army College fund pay for my remaining years to earn my degree…

I am a white woman who for the most part of my life has worked relatively low wage jobs, and I would say that the tax laws also are prejudiced against poorer people than the wealthy, who can afford lawyers to investigate tax loopholes. I owned a tiny home once, had to sell it in a bad economy for less than I bought it, and never was able to purchase another because of laws that do not allow help for those who want to buy their second home. As for myself, I prefer mixed neighborhoods, which are more diverse and interesting, but being single also look at crime rates. When I lived in Seattle, I wanted to live in an Asian neighborhood with wonderful food and a good deal of diversity, but the crime rate was very high. Anyway, I hope these laws are changed to make things more equitable to black Americans, and also all of us on the lower rung of the ladder.

I think 2--- by the time we reach an older age--- we r more disadvantaged from chronic illnesses. Due 2 stress of racism. Back, in my family they would have 2 sell any land property 2 pay 4 medical bills.

I am so grateful for her ability to speak frankly and constructively. I am walking away with a clearer picture: awareness of political and social ramifications of living in an all white neigborhood and a deeper understanding of the Jim Crow generational effects. Thank you!

Then tell me WHY do single people that make less than $40,000 get taxed so high?!

The US doesn't have monarchy of heredity as in Europe, we have a monarchy of UNEARNED inter-generational wealth. The wealth buys legislators and legislation to maintain the status quo.

That was a refreshing message. We work so hard and things still are not equal and we get looked down upon. Thank you for that message at the end. Now, it's time to get back to working 20x harder so we can make it just as far.

This is an outstanding series, Chasing the Dream. Well done.

Excellent interview. I can personally relate to much of this conversation. Thanks!

Black people built the dream 🤷🏾‍♂️

Long time lister Ms. Martin, I've enjoyed your voice, knowledge , and in depth questions for years, Thank You

Thank you so much for this information.

I think Tim Scott and Congressman Clyburn needs to see this video. Thank you for this very informative video.

Just when you think the rabbit hole of racism can't go any deeper... great talk

Great segment. I need to get the book. Yvette Carnell, Antonio Moore and Irami Osei-Frimpong discuss these issues all the time!

Also send her book and video to Tim Scott who doesn't think America is a "RACIST COUNTRY"!!!

Great discussion! I would like to know if she addresses the head of household filing status, which is used by many single mothers. Tax breaks and credits for the head of household are phased out at a much lower income than for those in the married status.

Mind Blowing! Makes me want to dig deeper to see what else our black brothers and sisters have been taken advantage of to insure they are left at a disadvantage. My heart is sick and I'm angry. Thank you for bringing these atrocities into focus. God Bless you.

I was a firm believer in yes we can and hope and change, in 2009. I thought for the first time in my life things were going to be handled much differently, I realized early on the politicians no matter what color they are, just give us lipservice.. God bless my grandma for raising me in such a way that, if I didn’t study and get good grades, she would take a switch to me. anybody who’s been raised in that situation, knows that grandma‘s not messing. Now my grandma lives with me and my family, far from where we started on the southside of Chicago.

I wish they would have touched base on gentrification

This is a perfect example of the "BLACK TAX" in America! Shameful!!

This information was eye opening...The book is a must read

I'm haven't been surprised in my lifetime at all. I'm glad that big government is being exposed ,and Tax Expert Dorothy Brown has shared this knowledge with all of us. Thank you for your podcast network ,as well.

From I'm hearing we should criticize some of these black spokesperson that want to criticize black people for not saving or investing at least in there 401K as much as they should. Some claim we'll go out a pay $100's of dollars to sneakers and hair and other personal items like they should be.

I already sensed that and feel it, live it daily. Im glad this expert has found evidence; so many are blinded like she was before she studied the subject. Just check the white box if you want the the savings.

This show should be called "Martin & Company"

I've had to go thru a few of these examples...and while I'm making sure I don't make the same mistakes, I don't see how I can live this American life w/o running into this all again?!?!

I love this segment , our Vice President, Tim Scott and others in government should be enlightened

I appreciate you bring attentions to this topic. I would add that some of the laws impacting Black Americans such as filing taxes as married, and the impact felt there, impacts everyone with similar financial profiles, regardless of race. These points of intersection can be used to highlight and teach how the system impacts everyone. I find it to be criminal to ask anyone, business or individual, with income under $500,000 to pay taxes. It is unnecessary and insulting to us all, when those at the financial bottom of this empire are responsible for our outstanding GNDP.

I enhoyed her other book "Black Rednecks and White Liberals" She's definitely an educated woman!

I guess to reverse the logic my wife and I were once white. Also, should have moved off the tax discussion because irs really only penalizes low wage earners generally.

#Thankyou!!!!!! I can't put into words how appreciative I am of this information!!!

Such interesting guests. And i loike your theme music: It is clean, gentle, hopeful, concluding. ;-)

I am surprised they allow the comments to stay on.

Thank you!

We have to determine what is median income

EVERYTHING so true. I acquired a MS with honors. Mostly I was told I was overqualified. When hired I accepted a lower pay than counterparts with same responsibilities. I was always the only Black in a department and underwent plenty of bias and racism. Just two years ago I paid off my over $90k student loan after years of payments. Recently retired I purchased an older PUD condo in a "suburb" in this town there maybe a handful of Blacks. While I had repairs to do I did come in with EQUITY. THANKS for your info. As a single person it is eye opening.

Do you have any information On home businesses and how they can lower your taxable income

Reform for this system is so unbelievably difficult. The system is just geared to destroy not only poor people, but people that look a certain way.

I had this very conversation with a neighbor 2 days ago regarding the tax code inequality and the stimulus check. My position is ALL taxpayers should be taxed at the “single” rate.

Very informative and it’s easy to understand Mrs. Brown breakdown of white and black and the bias of the American government

THANK YOU, MS. DOROTHY BROWN!!!!!! AS A BLACK HOMEOWNER MYSELF, THIS IS AN EYE-OPENING MESSAGE 🤯🤯🤯🤯❤️❤️❤️❤️

Ive known this all along!

Thar same criteria applies to retired couples, each of whom collect social security.

Thank you Ms. Brown. Knowledge is truly power. I am truly buying your book

A joint tax return is for married couples and offers some tax advantages over being married and filing separately.

Stupendous!!!!

Where's the Black MEN to help bring balance to this victimization narrative? From a Black male perspective I believe our focus should be on rebuilding the Black FAMILY and not "fixing" a system that can NEVER guarantee "Equality".

Lobby to Have this Aired on FOX and CNN

The top 1% of earners pay something like 50%(!) of all the taxes. That seems unfair.

I'm just wondering how is it that other ethnic groups in the country are never mentioned in these black vs. white everything, even though Hispanics are the number #1 minority group in the country. Asian are on track to past black people in population by 2030, which will make black Americans a 3rd class minority group in their own country. While black professionals, white liberals Hollywood, athletes and media keep blacks focused on white people and what their doing, the same democrat politicians are replacing blacks at a blazing fast pace with illegal and legal immigration to the tune of about 2 - 3 million a year. Black people want have any political power by the end of this decade. There will be no more phony democrat politicians coming to the hood courting blacks any longer, no republican or independent will be courting you after they have the numbers with the Hispanics, Asians, Indian and all other minority groups popping up in the country. Blacks can go kick rocks after democrats no longer need your vote. This is what black people are overlooking. Blacks are being distracted with the toy in the left hand while the democrat politicians are working their replacement plan in the right hand. I hope I'm retired and out of the game when our race fall into oblivion. It's coming unfortunately.

Okay, the very first example and "explanation" uses the married/joint tax filing as, supposedly, showing a grievous racial basis. But I still don't see it. She embeds in the concept that Black people need two incomes in order to make $100,000, which somehow "means" that White people don't, as a racial feature of both. HOW many White married couiples need both spoiuses to work and file jointly, as well? How does any of that favor white people, at the expense of Black people? It doesn't. Her underlying premise is actually, White people (as a whole group) earn and retain more money than Black people. And that this very aspect "income and wealth disparaty" is both "racist" and intentionally, craftily designed. That's nonsense. The tax laws she's referring to, especially, were at a time when married White couples in the same bracket were countless. Lately, most everything and anything is being called racist because of the very same formula.

It is an EXCELLENT book! This should be mandatory reading for all WASP.

I’m ordering the book Today!

Can someone do a piece on discrimination in home appraisal

My tax forms did NOT ask my race.....

A few days ago I saw on a news cast that Biden will only bring the tax rate from 21% to 28%. I hope that means something else because that doesn't seem to fix our inequality problem. Getting rid of the loopholes would be phenomenal, true, but FDR had a tax rate of 90% and everyone did VERY well. We need to rebuild our middle class desperately.

The issue is not being married and having a financial strategy. The WS aren't going to change. You need to change how you deal with it.

She LOST me when she started talking about her tax bid helping everybody... its about BLACKS right now we have been more disadvantaged then other groups for far longer

This lady needs to be on The Breakfast Club

A lot here! But I was left trying to distinguish class versus race tax discrimination on some points, particularly joint returns. Married couples do benefit more from children ( dependents) deductions versus single returns, no? Overall , the tax code has overwhelmingly favored the wealthy, where blacks and people of color are overwhelmingly without wealth ( property ownership, investments, long term savings, inheritance) and poor.

Excellent book! I facilitated a conversation with her in Denver, CO.

So now..wealth also has a color? STOP IT. Any low earners are impacted the same. Geez.

Can Oprah, Dr. Ben Carson, Obama let us in on their secret...did I miss something. We as a people need to not be so enmeshed with the latest shoes, Gucci purse among other things. Education use to be at the fore front in many black homes. Our black boys are reading at a fourth grade level. You can say the system is failing us, and how I see it we are failing ourselves. Our kids should be learning finances and coding instead of how they’ll never get ahead in life due to their appearance. #whenyouknowbetteryoudobetter #mamasseasoning

I thought married couples have the option to file jointly or separately on their federal income tax returns? What is the difference between a couple filing separately and a one income couple filing jointly?

Who says your parents couldn’t have made the same choice. File individually and gain the same benefits. The value and cost of ignorance is always higher than the knowledge

How do we become defensive players in the system??

yessss back to the longer videos!

Very good interview and great information!🎯🎯🎯

Thank you Dorothy for sharing the knowledge!

Closing notes - G. Floyd didn’t die because his heart was too big but because Chauvin’s heart was too small.