The Price of Democracy: The Revolutionary Power of Taxation in American History

An eye-opening history of taxation showing that battles over taxes have always really been battles over democracy itself

"A convincing case that we must take back the power of taxation" (Heather Cox Richardson, New York Times-bestselling author of Democracy Awakening)

Americans have always fought over the meaning of freedom and equality. What is not commonly recognized is that the battles most pivotal in defining our democracy, from the framing of the Constitution to the decades-long backlash to the civil rights movement, hinged on one issue--taxes.

In The Price of Democracy, Vanessa S. Williamson challenges the myth that Americans are instinctively anti-tax, revealing that fights over taxes have always been proxies for deeper conflicts over who is included in "We the People." Poorer people have repeatedly built movements that sought to tax all Americans to create a more equal and democratic nation. Wealthy people have responded by constraining the power to tax and stifling democracy through voting restrictions, gerrymandering, and violence. Yet as hard as anti-tax crusaders have fought to create an America that redistributes not from rich to poor, but from non-white people to rich white people, the battle rages on.

The Price of Democracy uncovers how fights for fiscal fairness have defined American history, delivering a powerful message to the present: that taxes are the public's most powerful weapon in the fight for a real democracy.

Author: Vanessa S. Williamson
Publisher: Basic Books
Published: 11/11/2025
Pages: 352
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.15lbs
Size: 9.30h x 6.10w x 1.30d
ISBN: 9781541606111


Review Citation(s):
Library Journal 10/01/2025 pg. 99
Kirkus Reviews 11/15/2025

About the Author
Vanessa S. Williamson is a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution, and a senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. The author or coauthor of two previous books, her writing has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Atlantic, Nation, and elsewhere. She lives in Washington, DC.