California lawmaker aims to protect reparations payments to Blacks from taxation
A California lawmaker is trying to make sure reparations payments to Black residents do not get taxed if the effort becomes a reality.
"For generations, descendants of formerly enslaved people have been denied both justice and economic opportunity," Assemblymember Tina McKinnor, a Democrat representing Inglewood district, said in a statement announcing the bill aiming to establish the measure. "Reparations are meant to repair harm, not be partially taken back through taxation."
Assembly Bill 2186, introduced by McKinnor, would protect future reparations payments or benefits from the state’s personal income taxes, assuming that federal, state or local reparations programs are approved.
Per the bill, the measure would apply for "taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2027, and before January 1, 2032, gross income shall not include any reparations benefit or payment received by a taxpayer during the taxable year."
The bill also states that a "reparations benefit or payment means any monetary payment, grant, trust distribution, debt forgiveness, or other financial compensation…"
McKinnor did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
The measure was sent to the California Senate for further review. If passed by the Senate, it would be considered by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
"California is actively preparing for the implementation of reparations programs," McKinnor said. "We must ensure that recipients receive the full benefit of these efforts."
Black residents in Evanston, Illinois received payments of $25K to cover housing expenses.
Progressive Rep. Shri Thanedar, D-Mich, in March revived the effort for reparations on the federal level through a bill that would set up a commission to "study and distribute land reparations" for the descendants of slaves in the U.S.
Thanedar, who led an impeachment suit against President Donald Trump and other Trump administration officials, is an original cosponsor of a similar reparations bill introduced by former "Squad" progressive Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., which was not advanced in the GOP-controlled House in 2023.
Other cities and states are developing measures to issue reparations in some form, whether that be direct cash payments or any compensation that seeks to rectify historical injustices and discrimination.
California was the first in the U.S. among many states and municipalities to establish a reparations commission to study history and issue recommendations on how to compensate Black Americans for slavery.
The future of reparations in California appears to be precarious as well, after Newsom rejected several bills to avoid legal issues and none of his potential successors appear to champion reparations in the gubernatorial race.
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Lisa Holder, a civil rights attorney and a former member of the state’s Reparations Task Force, reportedly said that advancing reparations would be a long process while advocates search for a champion of the cause.
"You can’t legislate yourself out of 400 years of inequality and injustice. You have to do an entire body of laws to change the systems that have been disparately affecting Black folks for decades," Holder told KQED on Jan. 19.