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Inside the confusing, time-sucking, unequal world of taxes

A close-up photograph of someone with a pencil in one hand, a calculator in the other, and looking at accounting numbers on a sheet of paper.
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Moment RF via Getty Images
The frustration of tax season.

How did taxes, this quintessentially frustrating thing, come to be so frustrating? And must it be so?

This hour, we’re learning about why taxes are so complicated to file in the U.S. Then, we’ll talk about how some of the richest people in America end up paying next to no taxes on the wealth they grow every year. Finally: a conversation with someone who doesn’t pay a chunk of his taxes — on purpose — as a form of protest.

GUESTS: 

  • Monica Prasad: Professor of Economic and Political Sociology at Johns Hopkins University 
  • Paul Kiel: Reporter for ProPublica who covers taxes
  • Lawrence Rosenwald: Professor of English Emeritus at Wellesley College and a longtime war tax resister

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on March 28, 2024.

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Carolyn McCusker helps produce The Colin McEnroe Show. She loves making true radio stories and listening to fake ones. In the past, she’s worked for NPR and WNYC, and she’s glad to be back at CT Public after interning in 2019. Carolyn can be reached at cmccusker@ctpublic.org.