Fighting Poverty Everywhere All at Once
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: As federal income taxation becomes more visible, and perhaps unavoidable, as a primary mode of poverty relief, the time is ripe to reexamine the lessons of ideological debates over ever-pilloried welfare programs for future efforts to achieve economic security for all. This Essay compares federal taxation with federal spending programs as potential sites of repair and remedy for longstanding racial and economic injustice—and potential sources of never-ending stigma that relegates low- and no-income people to perpetual hardship. First, the Essay shows how punitive, ideologically driven policy choices have resulted in persistent poverty and the contraction of the social safety net—including in the supposedly neutral, rational, and efficient arena of federal income tax. Then, the Essay examines the most recent debates over poverty relief for children to show how stigmatizing narratives and fear of dependency continue to operate, whether through the Code or through spending legislation. Finally, the Essay offers counter-narrative approaches, especially through empirically informed Critical Race Theory (CRT), that could garner more popular support for anti-poverty measures by deliberately, transparently—and optimistically—aiming to share prosperity rather than assign blame.
Source: Pittsburgh Tax Review
Author: Lynn Lu
Institution: CUNY School of Law
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4407966625