The Tax Code and Black Wealth
Series Introduction: How the Federal Tax Code Builds Wealth for Some and Strips It From Others
The series introduction outlines the project’s analytical framework, including the Black Wealth Infrastructure framework, and explains why policymakers must develop a clear evidentiary record on racial equity before the next major tax reform window opens.
The Earned Income Tax Credit, Black Workers, and the Case for Reform
Sub-Series I.1: Refundable Tax Credits and Black Economic Security
The Tax Code and Black Wealth series’ first sub-series, Refundable Tax Credits and Black Economic Security, opens with Brief No. I.1, The Earned Income Tax Credit, Black Workers, and the Case for Reform. The brief documents the EITC’s importance to Black working families, the credit’s structural exclusions, and significant racial disparities in EITC-related audit enforcement. The brief recommends that Congress reject EITC pre-certification proposals, restore statutory oversight of racial audit disparities, direct enforcement toward high-dollar noncompliance, and permanently expand the EITC for workers without qualifying children.
Meet the Authors
Dedrick Asante-Muhammad is the president of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. For the past 20 years, Asante-Muhammad has dedicated his career to understanding and tackling racial and economic inequities. Asante-Muhammad joins the Joint Center from the Racial Economic Equity and Research at the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) where he was vice president. During Asante-Muhammad’s tenure at NCRC, he oversaw fair lending, fair housing, the Women’s Business Center of DC, the National Training Academy, the Housing Counseling Network, and started the Racial Economic Equity Department. As chief of Membership, Policy, and Equity at NCRC, Asante-Muhammad oversaw Membership, Organizing, Research, and Policy.
Asante-Muhammad has worked at many of the nation’s top national non-profit advocacy organizations. Before joining NCRC, Asante-Muhammad served as director, senior fellow, and founder of the Racial Wealth Divide Initiative for Prosperity Now. Before this role, he worked as the senior director for Economic Programs at the NAACP; an associate fellow for the Institute for Policy Studies; was a Racial Wealth Divide coordinator for United for a Fair Economy; and served as Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network National field director.
While at United for a Fair Economy, Asante-Muhammad co-founded the State of the Dream report, an annual publication honoring the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., that examines the state of racial and economic inequality in the U.S. Asante-Muhammad has continued to be a co-author, providing analysis in publications, including “The Road to Zero Wealth” and “Ten Solutions to Bridge the Racial Wealth Divide.” Over the years, Asante-Muhammad has also become a thought leader in diversity, inclusion, and procurement, as reflected in the Opportunity and Diversity series and the “Racial and Ethnic Representation and Investment Framework for the Banking Industry.”
Previous to his work at national non-profits, Asante-Muhammad worked in higher education at Williams College, Oberlin College, and Morgan State University. He also helped coordinate a college program at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women. Asante-Muhammad has served and serves on various advisory committees and boards, including The Racial Equity Subcommittee of the Joe Biden Economic Policy Committee, Better Markets, the Advancing Black Strategists Initiative, and the Council of US Financial Health Network.
Asante-Muhammad has been featured in outlets including The Hill, MarketWatch, Yahoo! News, Bloomberg, CNN, MSNBC, Time, The New York Times, C-SPAN, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Atlantic, TheGrio, Black Enterprise, and Inside Philanthropy. An avid writer and researcher, more of Asante-Muhammad’s work can be found in Medium, HuffPost, and the Racial Wealth Divide Initiative’s blog.
Asante-Muhammad has a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Government from Williams College and a master’s degree in Systematic Theology from Union Theological Seminary.
LaToya B. Parker, Ph.D., is the senior researcher in the Office of the President at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, where she leads the organization’s Economic Policy and Tax Policy programs. Working closely with Joint Center President Dedrick Asante-Muhammad, she focuses on addressing wealth inequality and advancing policies that promote Black economic justice.
Since joining the Joint Center, Dr. Parker relaunched the tax policy program and led the inaugural Wealth Agenda Convening — a high-profile national event focused on tax reform, economic inclusivity, and equitable access to the green economy. She's also in the process of relaunching the Joint Center's national Tax Advisory Committee while leading the organization's engagement in national coalitions advancing fiscal justice and racial equity, and collaborating with other policy stakeholders to shape priorities for Black economic policy.
Before joining the Joint Center, Dr. Parker served as Research Study Manager at Westat, where she oversaw multimillion-dollar federal projects, conducted policy analyses through an equity lens, and led federal rulemaking and regulatory writing processes. At Decision Information Resources, she contributed to impact evaluations for national equity initiatives, including Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Greenwood Initiative, which led to $600 million in investments toward equity in medical education.
As a policy consultant with The Century Foundation, she analyzed federal appropriations tied to the Farm Bill, helping to uncover a $12 billion funding disparity between HBCU and non-HBCU land-grant institutions. Her work contributed to national policy attention and informed reform efforts to address historic underfunding.
Dr. Parker holds a Ph.D. in Higher Education Leadership and Policy Studies from Howard University, where her dissertation, Congressional Access: Examining the Federal Lobbying of HBCU Doctoral Universities, explored the advocacy strategies of HBCU doctoral institutions through a mixed-methods approach grounded in Interest Convergence Theory and Critical Realism. She also holds a Master of Social Work in Community Administration and Policy from Howard University and a Bachelor of Science in Political Science from Eastern Michigan University.
Dedicated to dismantling systemic barriers to racial and economic equity, Dr. Parker bridges research, policy, and advocacy to drive meaningful, lasting change for Black communities.