Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, has come under fire after saying in a recent interview that it's not "necessarily a bad idea" to make African Americans exempt from paying taxes "for a certain amount of time" as a form of reparations.
In an interview on the "Black Lawyers Podcast" released Tuesday, Crockett, who is Black, was asked about recent pushes in New York and California on reparations and about her general thoughts on the subject.
Crockett said that if reparations happen on a federal level or a state level, "there has to be continuity across the board" in how such a policy would be implemented.
She added: "This is something that definitely needs to be thought through … We have to do the research" and "figure out what this would look like in cost."
Crockett said a "celebrity" suggested that Black people should "not have to pay taxes for a certain amount of time," as a form of reparations, which the congresswoman said she thought "wasn't necessarily a bad idea," though she noted she would "have to think through it a lot," because while it would avoid the issue of "actually giving out dollars," it would raise the issue of how to treat "different tax brackets and things like that."
Crockett also commented on the discourse surrounding reparations and how difficult it can be to discuss the issue.
"Everybody hypothesizes about what reparations will do on both sides and then there's a breakdown," she said. "Because one side says it's going to be the best thing since sliced bread, the other side says it's going to be disastrous, instead of actually getting the data to show us these are the problematic parts, these are the not-so-problematic parts, and us actually crafting a thoughtful way forward."
Some news outlets and social media users were quick to pounce on Crockett over her comments, which the Daily Mail Online characterized as "bizarre." One X user wrote, "Jasmine Crockett may be even lower IQ than" Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., another progressive legislator who has come under frequent criticism from the right.
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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