The 1913 Revenue Act benefited black taxpayers only by excluding whites

Evidence

However, even without the data, we already know the outcomes for our black families. That’s why we need to create a new tax system—or rather, return to our old one, but with a twist. Our original system benefited black Americans as a side effect of excluding most white Americans from the tax rolls—if they didn’t earn enough to pay income tax, few black Americans would either. This new tax system will benefit black Americans with intention, by recognizing the racism they endure in every walk of life. A truly equitable tax system would contain elements of the one created by the Revenue Act of 1913, such as individual returns, and address the racism that has shaped the housing, college, and labor markets in the decades since. — Dorothy A. Brown, The Whiteness of Wealth, 521

Categorization

• CANDY: A compact surprising opener: the original income tax helped black Americans purely as a side effect of few white Americans earning enough to owe anything.