Episode 285: Income Taxes and the History of the IRS

Past Present

In this episode, Neil, Niki, and Natalia discuss the history of the Internal Revenue Service and why the uber-wealthy pay so little in income taxes.

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Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

• ProPublica released a searing report revealing how little the richest Americans pay in taxes – and that they do so legally. Neil referred to this San Diego Union Tribune op-ed about racial discrimination at the IRS, and Niki and Natalia to this Intelligencer interview with Dorothy Brown. We all drew on this history of IRS scandals published by The Week.

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia discussed two of the hotels in Yellowstone National Park.
• Neil shared this co piece, “Skittles Commemorates Gay Pride Month with Gray Packaging, Without the Color of the Rainbow.”
• Niki recommended historian A.K. Sandoval-Strausz’ Washington Post essay, “As Immigration Politics Changed, So Did ‘In the Heights’.”