# In defense of paying your taxes

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/think-from-kera-875208/in-defense-of-paying-your-taxes
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/think-from-kera-875208/in-defense-of-paying-your-taxes.md
Podcast: [Think from KERA](https://stenobird.com/podcast/think-from-kera-875208)
Published: 2026-04-15T18:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://play.prx.org/listen?ge=prx_140_ed6a1001-0a85-422d-8801-35a707f6ee1f&uf=https%3A%2F%2Fpublicfeeds.net%2Ff%2F140%2Ffeed-rss.xml
Audio file: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/tracking.swap.fm/track/sblTq32fyWAjsHzze2LG/dovetail.prxu.org/_/140/ed6a1001-0a85-422d-8801-35a707f6ee1f/standard.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/think-from-kera-875208/episodes/in-defense-of-paying-your-taxes
Duration seconds: 4102

## Resource

Nobody enjoys paying taxes, but how would our nation function without them? Vanessa S. Williamson is a senior fellow in Governance Studies at Brookings and a senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. She joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the history of taxation in this country, why your hard-earned tax dollars are critical to a functioning democracy, and why low taxes might mean lower interest in getting your civic needs met. Her book is “ The Price of Democracy: The Revolutionary Power of Taxation in American History .” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

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## Transcript

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