Biden’s Gambit: Advancing Racial Equity While Relying on a Race-Neutral Tax Code
33 Pages Posted: 14 Jan 2022
Date Written: January 9, 2022
Abstract
The American Rescue Plan Act was both a major infusion of economic aid to low- income and middle-class Americans and an opportunity for the Biden Administration to keep its promise to promote racial equity. This Essay analyzes ARPA’s major provisions to determine their potential impact on racial equity. It argues that the Biden Administration should do more to tackle racial wealth inequality and the structural issues in the tax code that allow those at the top of the income distribution to benefit disproportionately from tax subsidies. It also underscores the larger challenge of achieving racial equity in the face of courts, particularly conservative judges, that treat race-based policies designed to counteract racial inequities as discriminatory.
Keywords: racial equity, wealth inequality, American Rescue Plan Act, taxation
JEL Classification: K34
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation