Ruth Braunstein, "My Tax Dollars: The Morality of Taxpaying in America" (Princeton UP, 2025)

May 9, 2025

Ruth Braunstein, an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Connecticut, dives into the moral complexities of taxpaying in America. She discusses how different groups—from antiwar activists to tax resisters—view taxes as both a civic duty and a source of moral conflict. Braunstein highlights the transformative power of taxation rituals and the broader societal implications, revealing how personal beliefs shape attitudes toward taxes. This enlightening conversation explores the intersection of ethics, civic engagement, and the diverse meanings behind 'my tax dollars'.

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INSIGHT

Taxation Reflects American Social Contract

American tax culture embraces both compliance and resistance rooted in deep historical ties.
High tax morale coexists with widespread tax protest as citizens negotiate democracy and rights through taxation.

INSIGHT

Tax Culture Shapes Perception

Tax system laws are only part of taxpaying culture, which includes personal experiences and pop culture commentary.
This broader culture shapes how Americans emotionally and morally perceive taxation.

INSIGHT

Relational Meaning of Tax Money

Taxation is a monetary exchange loaded with relational and moral meanings.
People personalize "my tax dollars" as if spending reflects their values and relationship to government.

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In My Tax Dollars: The Morality of Taxpaying in America (Princeton University Press, 2025), 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.”
Braunstein explores the profound implications of this meaning making for tax consent, the legitimacy of the tax system, and citizens’ broader understandings of their political relationships. Going beyond the usual focus on tax policy, Braunstein’s innovative view of taxation through the lens of cultural sociology shows how citizens in value-diverse societies coalesce around shared visions of the sacred and fears of the profane.

Interviewee: Ruth Braunstein is Associate Professor of sociology at the University of Connecticut.

Host: Schneur Zalman Newfield is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Jewish Studies at Hunter College, City University of New York, and the author of Degrees of Separation: Identity Formation While Leaving Ultra-Orthodox Judaism (Temple University Press). Visit him online at ZalmanNewfield.com.

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