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 desegregation cases from
Brown v.
Board of Education to
San Antonio v. Rodriguez in the
1970s, this study spans over a century of racial injustice,
dramatic courtroom clashes, and white supremacist backlash to
collective justice claims.
Incorporating letters from everyday individuals as well as the
private notes of Supreme Court justices as they deliberated, Walsh
reveals how the idea of a "taxpayer" identity contributed to the
contemporary crises of public education, racial disparity, and
income inequality.