Objectors argue living taxpayers bear no responsibility for past harms

Evidence

One often-raised objection is that today’s taxpayers should not be made to pay for yesterday’s sinners. A good articulation of this argument comes from former Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who stated in 2019, “I don’t think reparations for something that happened 150 years ago for whom none of us currently living are responsible is a good idea.” — Dorothy A. Brown, Getting to Reparations, 563

Categorization

• SEED: This is the canonical statement of the ‘living taxpayers’ objection Brown must rebut — central to building the strongest-possible-objection section of a reparations defense.