In defense of paying your taxes episode artwork

EPISODE · Apr 15, 2026 · 1H 8M

In defense of paying your taxes

from Think from KERA · host KERA

 Nobody enjoys paying taxes, but how would our nation function without them? Vanessa S. Williamson is a senior fellow in Governance Studies at Brookings and a senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. She joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the history of taxation in this country, why your hard-earned tax dollars are critical to a functioning democracy, and why low taxes might mean lower interest in getting your civic needs met. Her book is “The Price of Democracy: The Revolutionary Power of Taxation in American History.”  Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Nobody enjoys paying taxes, but how would our nation function without them? Vanessa S. Williamson is a senior fellow in Governance Studies at Brookings and a senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. She joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the history of taxation in this country, why your hard-earned tax dollars are critical to a functioning democracy, and why low taxes might mean lower interest in getting your civic needs met. Her book is “The Price of Democracy: The Revolutionary Power of Taxation in American History.”

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In defense of paying your taxes

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This episode is 1 hour and 8 minutes long.

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This episode was published on April 15, 2026.

What is this episode about?

 Nobody enjoys paying taxes, but how would our nation function without them? Vanessa S. Williamson is a senior fellow in Governance Studies at Brookings and a senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. She joins host Krys Boyd to...

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