Democrat Rep. Jasmine Crockett: Black Americans Should Not Pay Taxes as a Form of Reparations

Freshman Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) suggested that black Americans should be exempt from paying taxes as a form of reparations but then said it might not work because of the black people who are “not paying taxes in the first place.”

Crockett, who recently made headlines for perpetuating the debunked myth that U.S. border patrol officers “whipped” Haitian migrants, was giving an interview on “The Black Lawyers Podcast” when she brought up the idea.

“I don’t remember which celebrity, but it was actually a celebrity,” the progressive congresswoman recalled to host Jehan “J” Carter of the proposal she saw — apparently from an unnamed famous person.

“And I was like, ‘I don’t know if that’s not necessarily a bad idea’…One of the things that they proposed is black folk not have to pay taxes for a certain amount of time,” Crockett continued.

She went on to say that the proposal might be good because “that puts money back in your pocket” but admitted it may not work “for people that are already, say, struggling and not paying taxes in the first place.”

Crockett promoted the overall belief that reparations should take form in some way because “So many black folk — not only do you owe for the labor that was stolen and killed and all the other things — but the fact is, like, we end up being so far behind.”

The congresswoman also stated that the federal and state governments need to have consistency with reparations plans because without collaboration, “everybody’s gonna run to whichever state and be like, ‘Yo, I need mine.’”

“And so we don’t want to see that — this is definitely something that needs to be thought through,” she said.

Crockett went on to criticize “people that aren’t even willing to do the [reparations] studies, aren’t willing to invest to make sure we can roll this out the right way.”

Her comments came as the Tennessee state legislature prepares to vote Wednesday on a bill that would prohibit “local governments from expending funds for the purposes of studying or disbursing reparations.”

The bill, sponsored by State Sen. Brent Taylor (R), was introduced after the commissioners of Shelby County voted to launch a “feasibility study to examine reparations for the descendants of slaves,” the Daily Mail reported.

Taylor, whose district is within Shelby County, says his reasoning for going against the $5 million study is not a “judgment” on reparations as a concept.

“I will make very clear, our vote today does not pass judgment on reparations,” Taylor said on the State Senate floor:

That is a very significant and very important issue for many people in our country, but it is an issue that belongs to the federal government and does not belong to our cities and counties, and I think it’s inappropriate for our cities and counties tax dollars to go to such an issue.

Progressive State Rep. Justin J. Pearson (D) called the bill a piece of “white supremacist legislation” and publicly endorsed a petition by Memphis preacher Rev. Earle Fisher to get the bill tossed out of the legislature. 

Crockett has supported Pearson against the so-called “white Republican establishment” in the past, following his temporary expulsion from the Tennessee legislature for breaking decorum rules during an anti-gun protest on the House floor.

The congresswoman safely secured the Democrat nomination for her Dallas district in March, with 91.5 percent of the vote, the New York Times reported.

No Republican will be on the ballot against her in November, with her only official opponent being Libertarian Ken Ashby.