Taxation and Resentment: Race, Party, and Class in American Tax Attitudes

Andrea Louise Campbell; Andrea Louise Campbell

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Taxation and Resentment

Race, Party, and Class in American Tax Attitudes

Andrea Louise Campbell and Andrea Louise Campbell

Language: English

Published/Copyright: 2025

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About this book

Why Americans favor progressive taxation in principle but not in practice

Most Americans support progressive taxation in principle, and want the rich to pay more. But the specific tax policies that most favor are more regressive than progressive. What is behind such a disconnect? In this book, Andrea Louise Campbell examines public opinion on taxation, exploring why what Americans favor in principle differs from what they accept in practice. Campbell shows that since the federal income tax began a century ago, the rich have fought for lower taxes through reduced rates and a complicated system of tax breaks. The resulting complexity leaves the public confused about who benefits from the convoluted tax code, and leads to tax preferences that are driven by factors other than principles or interests.

Campbell argues that tax attitudes vary little by income, or by party, as some Democrats, more Republicans, and even more independents want most taxes decreased. Instead, white opinion on nearly every tax is racialized. Many do not realize the rich benefit the most from tax breaks, attitudes toward which are racialized, too. And among Black and Hispanic Americans, long subject to government coercion, greater support for government spending is not matched by greater support for taxation. Everyone has a reason to dislike taxes, which helps antitax Republicans win votes—and helps the rich in their long campaign to get their own taxes reduced and undermine progressivity.

Author / Editor information

Andrea Louise Campbell is the Arthur and Ruth Sloan Professor of Political Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is the author of How Policies Make Citizens: Senior Activism and the American Welfare State and Trapped in America’s Safety Net: One Family’s Struggle (Princeton).

Reviews

"Andrea Louise Campbell’s new book Taxation and Resentment: Race, Party, and Class in American Tax Attitudes argues that many Americans fundamentally misunderstand taxpaying, and so actively vote against their own interests. . . . Campbell finds that racial sentiment has the single largest influence on white Americans’ tax attitudes, with white taxpayers perceiving their tax dollars as aiding nonwhites—a resentful relationship dating to the post–Civil War era. Black and Brown communities, meanwhile, are generally wary of a coercive state, and often believe they are taxed unfairly."---Carey Mott, Los Angeles Review of Books

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Frontmatter
i

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Contents
vii

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List of Illustrations
ix

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Preface
xiii

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Abbreviations
xvii

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1 Introduction
1

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2 History and Nature of the American Tax System
19

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3 Self-Interest I: Attitudes across Taxes
52

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4 Self-Interest II: Attitudes across Individuals
95

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5 Partisan Identification and Ideology
131

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6 Racial Resentment and Tax Attitudes among White Americans
158

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7 State Coercion and Tax Attitudes among Black and Hispanic Americans
194

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8 Conclusion
229

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Appendix
249

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Notes
275

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References
297

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Index
317

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A note on the type
329

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Publishing information

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

eBook published on:

March 25, 2025

eBook ISBN:

9780691266237

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691266237

eBook ISBN: 9780691266237

Keywords for this book

Tax; Income; Attitudes; Federal; Government; Progressive; Policy; Rich; Racial; Respondents; Whites; Benefits; Regressive; Republicans; Property; Sales; Resentment; Groups; Estate; Lower; Sales taxes; Unfair; Preferences; Rates; Breaks; Democrats; Knowledge; Revenues; Opinion; Survey; Data; Payroll; Security; Abstract; Individuals; Hispanic; Higher; Party; Expenditures; Economic; Wealth; Items; Households; Capital; Earners; Gains; Partisan; Relationship; Resentful; Fair; Factors; Levels; Measures; Racially resentful; Tax rates; Reason; Ideology; Cuts; Politics; Gas; Welfare; Findings; Independents; Homeowners; Programs; Partisanship; Increases; Material; Differ; Role

Audience(s) for this book

For an expert adult audience, including professional development and academic research

Taxation and Resentment

Overview

About this book

Author / Editor information

Reviews

Topics

Table of contents

Frontmatter

Contents

List of Illustrations

Preface

Abbreviations

1 Introduction

2 History and Nature of the American Tax System

3 Self-Interest I: Attitudes across Taxes

4 Self-Interest II: Attitudes across Individuals

5 Partisan Identification and Ideology

6 Racial Resentment and Tax Attitudes among White Americans

7 State Coercion and Tax Attitudes among Black and Hispanic Americans

8 Conclusion

Appendix

Notes

References

Index

A note on the type

Bibliographic data