Books
Coming April 15, 2025
My Tax Dollars: The Morality of Taxpaying in America
“My Tax Dollars hits the intellectual jackpot. … A stunningly original book.”
- Francesca Polletta, author of Inventing the Ties that Bind
In My Tax Dollars, Ruth Braunstein maps the contested moral landscape in which Americans experience and make sense of the tax system. Braunstein tells the stories of Americans who view taxpaying as more than a mundane chore: antigovernment tax defiers who challenge the legitimacy of the tax system, antiwar activists who resist the use of their taxes to fund war, antiabortion activists against “taxpayer funded abortions,” and a diverse group of people who promote taxpaying as a moral good.
Though taxpaying is often portrayed as dull and technical, exposure to collective rituals, civic education, propaganda, and protest transforms the practice for many Americans into either a sacred rite of citizenship or a profane threat to what they hold dear. These sacred and profane meanings can apply to the act of taxpaying itself or to the specific uses of tax dollars. Despite intense disagreement about these meanings, politically diverse Americans engaged in both taxpaying and tax resistance valorize the individual taxpayer and “my tax dollars.”
ADVANCE PRAISE
“In this wonderful new book, Ruth Braunstein reminds us that budgets are, inherently, moral documents. This book shows how the seemingly banal issue of taxes is actually vital to the articulation of the priorities and values of our society. At a time when many are seeking to cut taxes, regulations, and societal investments, Braunstein shows us why we must reconsider this from a moral and ethical perspective.”
-Rev. Jim Wallis, Georgetown University
“With stunning analytic insight and gripping evidence, Ruth Braunstein transforms our understandings of the US tax system. My Tax Dollars turns seemingly dull financial ledgers into compelling cultural and social documents.
A major contribution to economic and cultural sociology, the book will fascinate readers beyond the academy.”
-Viviana A. Zelizer, author of Economic Lives: How Culture Shapes the Economy
“The book is a masterclass on weaving together different kinds of sources, from Supreme Court decisions to ethnography to fiction books. Bringing together an extraordinary range of evidence, Braunstein examines how and why taxation is viewed as sacred, profane, or mundane.”
-Vanessa Williamson, Brookings Institution
Previous Works
PROPHETS AND PATRIOTS
RELIGION AND PROGRESSIVE ACTIVISM
RELIGION, HUMILITY, AND DEMOCRACY IN A DIVIDED AMERICA
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I study things you're not supposed to talk about at parties — and write about them at my Substack.