Local author Vanessa Williamson will discu ss her book The Price of Democracy: The Revolutionary Power of Taxatio n in American History in conversation with Erica Williams\, the Execu tive Director of the DC Fiscal Policy Institute. In \;The Price of Democracy\, Williamson challenges the myth that Americans are instin ctively anti-tax\, revealing that fights over taxes have always been proxi es for deeper conflicts over who is included in &ldquo\;We the People.&rdq uo\; Poorer people have repeatedly built movements that sought to tax all Americans to create a more equal and democratic nation. Wealthy people hav e responded by constraining the power to tax and stifling democracy throug h voting restrictions\, gerrymandering\, and violence. Yet as hard as anti -tax crusaders have fought to create an America that redistributes not fro m rich to poor\, but from non-white people to rich white people\, the batt le rages on. \;The Price of Democracy uncovers how fights for fiscal fairness have defined American history\, delivering a powerful mes sage to the present: that taxes are the public&rsquo\;s most powerful weap on in the fight for a real democracy.
\nThe talk will be followed by Q+A and book-signing. Free copies while supplies last\, with additional c opies available for sale and sign by the author.
\nThis program is a part of the Literary Village book talk series - a partnership between Mou nt Pleasant Village and the Friends of Mt. Pleasant Library.
\n\ nAbout the Author: Vanessa Williamson is a senior fell ow in \;Governance Studies \;at Brookings\, and a senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. She studies taxation and democracy in America.
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