Many happy returns!

A man is BREEDING SNAILS in office buildings and calling it "snail farm" to avoid hundreds of thousands in tax. 🐌🐌🐌🐌. www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...

"Most histories of American democracy start with voting rights or constitutional design," Joe Thorndike writes. "But Vanessa Williamson begins with a different focus: She wants to know who’s picking up the tab." Read the review of @vanessawilliamson.bsky.social's book: https://taxnotes.co/4qfVZHm

Be jealous, tax nerds: I got to talk tax history with the legendary @joethorndike.bsky.social !! taxnotestalk.taxnotes.com/124942/episo...

Thanks so much to @patrioticmillionaires.org for giving me the opportunity to speak at their conference. This was fun!

So excited to dive into this new book by @vanessawilliamson.bsky.social. Taxes are how we care for each other. Those with wealth have always tried to hoard power too. And look where it’s taking us!

“Incisive… Williamson’s surprising thesis is that taxes, when done right, are good for democracy.” @vanessawilliamson.bsky.social's "The Price of Democracy" was featured in the latest @nytimes.com Book Review! Read more here: bit.ly/49a46zk

"The Price of Democracy feels essential today.... Anyone who cares about preserving democracy would be well served by reading it." @npr.org reviews @vanessawilliamson.bsky.social's "fascinating" new history of taxation in America from colonization to the present day. Read more: bit.ly/44VU6qX

Ok this is very exciting I'm not going to lie

TOMORROW: I'm in Chicago! Come say hi at @seminarycoopbooks.bsky.social I'll be talking about my new book with the brilliant legal scholar Aziz Huq! Saturday, December 6, 2025 Seminary Co-op Bookstore 5751 S. Woodlawn Ave 3:00pm - 4:00pm www.semcoop.com/event/vaness...

ICYMI: @sjdemas.bsky.social welcomed @vanessawilliamson.bsky.social on First Draft to discuss how our tax system is one of the first ways we need to go about fixing the U.S. Vanessa’s new book The Price of Democracy is out now! www.lincolnsquare.media/p/taxes-and-... Subscribe to watch today!

LIVE AT 11:00 AM ET - @vanessawilliamson.bsky.social joins @sjdemas.bsky.social live for First Draft to discuss her new book, The Price of Democracy: The Revolutionary Power of Taxation in American History, out now! open.substack.com/live-stream/... Subscribe for free to watch live!

Hey Chicago! I have a book event coming up at Seminary Co-Op bookstore on December 6th! I am thrilled to be joined by legal scholar Aziz Huq. Come say hello! "The Price of Democracy" Seminary Co-op 5751 S. Woodlawn Ave Saturday, December 6th at 3pm www.semcoop.com/event/vaness...

"There’s never been a serious campaign for a tax system that would have made rich people not rich. But the idea that you are beholden, that you are merely a citizen among other citizens, is something that at certain levels of wealth many people find unacceptable." - @vanessawilliamson.bsky.social

🚨 BIG WIN in Center for Taxpayer Rights v. IRS!! 🚨 Court just issued a stay on IRS data sharing cooperation with ICE.

Live now: @vanessawilliamson.bsky.social on the Revolutionary Power of Taxation in American History with former IRS commissioner Danny Werfel

THURSDAY, 10AM: I am absolutely thrilled to be joined by former IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel for a conversation @brookings.edu about my new book, "The Price of Democracy." If you are in DC, join us --- or you can watch online! www.brookings.edu/events/the-p...

The paper didn’t keep this part of my quote, but I see this as further evidence that Trump’s @treasurydept.bsky.social expects inflation to keep going up all the way through 2026 www.independent.co.uk/us/money/irs...

In September, IRS began a $14.2 million contract with Palantir to build a unified API, but little is known about the process by which this contract was awarded or what protections are in place for taxpayer data. - @vanessawilliamson.bsky.social at @donmoyn.bsky.social

Had a great conversation with Ben Tumin at Skipped History! (this screenshot captures accurately how happy I am when thinking about taxes)

Drawing on Thomas Paine’s proposal for a 100% wealth tax and the backdrop of today’s economy—where billionaires line up behind the president and wield immense influence over policy—they argue that limiting vast fortunes is essential to protecting democracy. www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...

📣IN DC this MONDAY!📣Come here me speak about my new book, "The Price of Democracy" with the brilliant @dorianwarren.bsky.social !! Politics and Prose @politicsprose.bsky.social 5015 Connecticut Ave NW Monday, November 17th 7pm

Wow, @vanessawilliamson.bsky.social has a new book out about how taxes uphold democracy. Can't wait to read it! Y'all know I want to make April 15 a public health holiday so we can celebrate the fact that taxes allow us to do together what not one of us can do alone. the.ink/p/watch-read...

Featured on the latest @sirenspod.bsky.social: the new book the Price of Democracy by @vanessawilliamson.bsky.social. What does Direct File have to do with democracy? We discuss that and attempt a lot more when it comes to taxes, but you should read Vanessa's book!!

NEW: The first two years of Massachusetts' millionaire tax has raised $3 billion more than expected. And rather than driving the rich away, IPS researchers found that the number of millionaires has *increased.* Tax the rich. Greg Ryan in @bloomberg.com:

Tired of thinking about contemporary terrible people? Why not take a break and think about this dead terrible person instead?? seriously I had so much fun on this podcast! @ceaubin.com is hilarious and understands the value of cathartic rage, listen to this show

TODAY ON TGS: we’re joined by the incredible Vanessa Williamson @vanessawilliamson.bsky.social to talk about death, taxes, and Martin Witherspoon Gary - a Confederate general who was willing to cause a lot of the former to avoid the latter. It’s a wild ride.

Big Andrew Mellon energy

"[O]pponents of democracy in the [US] ... have adopted a dual strategy of electoral and fiscal subversion – ... trying to keep their political opponents from voting, and on the other, ensuring that the government is too starved of revenue to invest in egalitarian policies or restrain private power.

Apropos of... everything: Thomas Paine, the guy whose "Common Sense" convinced Americans not to have a king, also called for a wealth tax to prevent "corruption at elections". His proposed top marginal rate? 100%! www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...

NEW from me & Ellis Chen on IRS oversight. What do we know and what we need to know about: > IRS criminal investigations partnering with ICE > what the 25% staffing cut means for tax refunds > what has happened to IRS high-wealth audits > Palantir's new contracts & your data privacy

New at Can We Still Govern: The IRS is a key agency and its decline is emblematic of Trump-era mismanagement. @vanessawilliamson.bsky.social & Eliis Chen lay out the questions that Democrats should be asking its new leader. Incredibly informative piece. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/five-quest...

Ok but GUYS MY BOOK IS ACTUALLY OUT TODAY YOU CAN GO AND GET A COPY AND READ IT AND EVERYTHING www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/vanes...

We are so excited to announce that "THE PRICE OF DEMOCRACY: The Revolutionary Power of Taxation in American History," by @vanessawilliamson.bsky.social, is now available!  Learn why battles over taxation have always been battles over democracy itself: bit.ly/4nK7J3N 

Ok this book looks really great

Such an impt read! Besides enriching his own coffers & those of his cronies, Trump is fundamentally undermining the tax system which “strikes at the very capacity of a democratically elected government to act.” “Together, taxation & representation make a powerful govt accountable to the public.”

My book comes out tomorrow so let’s play “What does the news remind me of?” Up first: The editorial in Bezos’s Post describing Mamdani’s win as "new era of class warfare." It reminds me of a memo commissioned by a different rich guy more than a century ago.

Trump's tariffs are always described as chaotic. They aren't chaotic. They are part of a concerted attack on the rule of law. If you want to read about that at more length and with more penguins:

New from me today! An article at @lpeblog.bsky.social, about Trump's tariffs, Magna Carta, and why opponents of democracy always try to undermine the tax system. lpeproject.org/blog/the-lon... Also, I got to write this one sentence:

THURSDAY ON TGS! I’m joined by Vanessa Williamson @vanessawilliamson.bsky.social to talk about this former Confederate general, who had three big passions in life: taxes, murder, and racism. Not necessarily in that order. Let the great tax-pilling begin.

If I am ever asked about my dream in life, I now know my answer, this is it: for everyone everywhere to be so incredibly tax-pilled

sound smart about tariffs: buy this book

OMG are we actually talking about whether tariffs are for revenue or a trade regulation??!! What is this, 1764?? PAGING JAMES OTIS AMIRITE

Me: “The fixation on causal estimates is not the appropriate direction social science…What descriptive analysis provides us with are facts. Facts are nouns. Causal analysis gives us contextual estimates. They are adjectives. In the grammar of social science, we should prefer nouns to adjectives.”

This is the way.

Per the D.C. CFO, D.C. stands to lose $657.8 million in revenue from the federal tax code changes through 2029 if the city does nothing to decouple its taxes from federal ones.

DC FRIENDS: I'll be at Politics and Prose on Nov. 17th to talk about my new book, The Price of Democracy! Thrilled to be joined by @dorianwarren.bsky.social for the conversation. 5015 Conn Ave Monday, Nov 17th 7pm politics-prose.com/vanessa-will... Come talk 😍taxation and democracy😍!

Latest tariff news is of a pattern with private donations for the WH ballroom, seizing a stake in Intel and the politicization at IRS. Trump is trying to replace the legislated system of taxation for revenue with an arbitrary, personal system of state exactions.

This is contemptible and outrageous and unprecedented. Mostly children, the elderly, and those with disabilities. Shameful. Hungry at Thanksgiving.

DC today #nokings