The chairwoman of California‘s reparations panel is advocating a wealth tax that would redistribute funds to black residents and those who are descendants of slaves.
Chairwoman Kamilah V. Moore and the California Reparations Task Force heard from tax law experts across the United States that testified how white people are more likely to be wealthy; therefore, any reallocation of funds would benefit the state’s black population.
SAN FRAN COMMITTEE PROPOSES $5M TO LONGTIME BLACK RESIDENTS AS REPARATIONS
The task force was created in 2020 by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and established through California AB 3121, a bill signed that focused on reparations for black citizens. One proposal is to give out $223,000 payments to every black resident in the state.
Per the 2022 census, with 6.5% of California’s residents identifying as black or African American, close to 2.5 million people, that would amount to roughly $569 billion needed to fund the reparations.
Moore entertained the idea of creating a wealth, mansion, or property tax during a panel held on Friday to make up the funds for the reparation payments, per MarketWatch.
Dorothy Brown, a tax expert at Georgetown Law, said black people are likely to pay higher taxes compared to white people.
“Our tax laws as written have a disparate impact,” Brown said to the panel.
Moore Johnson, a founding partner of Washington, D.C.-based Birchstone Moore Law firm, said a reparations tax could be established through charitable donations.
“Charitable contributions are currently permitted to the state or federal government but only for public purposes,” Johnson said. “If racial repair is recognized as a public purpose,” then it could be considered tax deductible.
Brown argued that reparations should not be treated as taxable income, as it “would be entirely inconsistent with the intent and spirit of the task force’s goals.”
The payments are looked at as recompense for housing discrimination and “racial terror,” something that the task force is examining between the years of 1933 and 1977 in California.
In 2022, the task force put together a 500-page initial report detailing the effects of Reconstruction, the period that came immediately after the Civil War from 1865 to 1877. A full report is expected to be released in July 2023, the same summer the final recommendations are due to the state legislature.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
A similar committee in San Francisco published a 60-page draft detailing reparation plans for $5 million payouts, opportunities for tax credits, and debt forgiveness for longtime black residents as reparations for decades of racism and systemic oppression.
California Democrats have introduced a bill that would tax California residents that would have a “worldwide net worth” above $1 billion, even those who have left the state. It’s unknown if these tax dollars would help fund the task force’s reparation payouts.
