Racial Taxation: Schools, Segregation, and Taxpayer Citizenship, 1869-1973

In the United States, it is quite common to lay claim to the benefits of society by appealing to “taxpayer citizenship” — the idea that, as taxpayers, we deserve access to certain social services like a public education. Tracing the genealogy of this concept, Camille Walsh shows how tax policy and taxpayer identity were built on the foundations of white supremacy and intertwined with ideas of whiteness. From the origins of unequal public school funding after the Civil War through school des...