Racial politics and redistribution: Isolating the contingent influence of civil rights, riots, and crime on tax progressivity

To assess the determinants of political support for redistribution, this ti me-series study analyzes historically contingent changes in the progressivi ty of the income tax. Nonviolent civil rights protest should increase sympa thy for the least affluent and enhance support for redistributive policies, but social problems blamed on the underclass may have the opposite effect. After controlling for shifts in partisan control of the presidency, nonwhi te presence, family incomes, and union strength, the results suggest that c ivil rights activity leads to redistributive tax codes, but social problems blamed on the underclass such as riots or crime reduce tax progressivity. Additional findings suggest that these relationships are contingent. The po sitive relationship between civil rights actions and redistributive tax pol icies is significantly stronger when Democrats control the presidency, but the negative relationship between riots and egalitarian taxation is enhance d during Republican administrations.