Tax Justice Now: Andrew Kahrl’s “"The Black Tax” and the Roadmap for Renewal
★★★★★ Review by Jeff Geoffray, Co-Founder, The 431 Exchange
Andrew Kahrl’s The Black Tax is a story of systemic injustice—but also of resilience. It offers a window into how local governments used property tax laws as instruments of racial dispossession and, at the same time, how Black communities resisted with ingenuity, courage, and relentless will.
This book epitomizes the cycle of oppression and resistance that defines the African American experience—and why that experience matters more than ever. In a moment when democracy and truth are under siege, Black history gives us more than a warning. It gives us a roadmap. Kahrl’s research shows how people fought back against decades of economic sabotage, even when the very structures of government were aligned against them.
What makes The Black Tax so urgent is its dissection of the myths that support inequality. The lie that Black Americans “don’t pay taxes” or don’t contribute to public life has justified decades of theft. In truth, they’ve paid more—far more—for far less, subsidizing white prosperity while being blamed for their own economic hardships.
“Kahrl’s research shows how people fought back against decades of economic sabotage, even when the very structures of government were aligned against them.”
The Black Tax stands alongside books like The Color of Law, The Souls of Black Folk, and The New Jim Crow in illuminating the machinery of racism in America. But its contribution is distinct: it turns our attention to the local—the tax rolls, the liens, the bureaucracies—and shows how injustice is not just historical but contemporary, and embedded in the very budgets that shape our neighborhoods.
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