Tuesday, December 13
8:00pm ET ·  7:00pm CT ·  6:00pm MT ·  5:00pm PT

The talk will highlight important links. How taxes demonstrate the legitimacy of democratic control of the economy. How this is what some political and economic actors cannot accept—and what dealing with our most complex problems requires. Also, how the cult of the “taxpayer” allows for racist attacks on that same democracy, on its progress towards more responsive governance.

Vanessa Williamson, Ph.D., is a Senior Fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution. Vanessa has written for outlets such as Dissent, Washington Post, New York Times, the Atlantic, and Teen Vogue. She has appeared for NPR, CSPAN, CNN, and CNBC. Vanessa is the author of Read My Lips: Why Americans Are Proud to Pay Taxes, and co-author of The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism. 

Dr. Williamson engages the public on school segregation, tax opinion, politics, anti-union legislation, voter registration strategies, democracy and organizing, taxpayer citizenship, philanthropy, austerity, and white supremacy.