Reparations 2.0: White-Owned Businesses Pay Extra Taxes to Minority-Owned Businesses

The push for reparations went from a slow creep many years ago to the full-steam-ahead pace of today, thanks in part to the murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement. While reparations have always stalled nationally, progressives have found a more welcoming environment for this ‘social justice’ idea locally.

The latest plug for reparations comes from the Mile High City’s very own version of AOC – City Council Member Candi CdeBaca. The far-left council member is facing a tight reelection in a closely watched Denver campaign.

And what’s the best way to buy votes? Our old friend OPM – Other People’s Money.

Ms. CdeBaca did not disappoint last week during a candidate forum when she introduced a new version of reparations.

Taxation Is Theft. Unless…

In a candidate forum hosted by The Greater Metro Denver Ministerial Alliance, the topic of reparations came up.

We couldn’t begin any conversation about reparations without false claims about capitalism, so Ms. CdeBaca dropped this inaccurate description:

“Capitalism was built on stolen land, stolen labor, and stolen resources, and a check today could not undo the cumulative impact of generations of that stolen wealth in all those categories.”

So if flat-out reparations checks aren’t the answer, what is it that Ms. CdeBaca proposes? A race-based tax initiative. 

“…collecting those extra taxes from white-led businesses all over the city and redistributing them to black and brown owned businesses.”

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Fascinatingly she proposed this racist idea shortly after she claimed taxation was theft, stating the current model in what is known as the Five Points area of Denver:

“…steals from the community through taxation.”

So taxation is theft unless it’s used to redistribute money from white people to black people? What is going on, Denver?

A Red Herring

In her attempt to appeal to the libertarians on the left by stating taxation is theft while also appealing to the minority vote in her district, Ms. CdeBaca betrays what her platform is really about:

“I think there’s a model that could be redistributive.”

Redistributive is the crucial word in that phrase and illuminates what Ms. CdeBaca believes. Backed by the Democratic Socialists of America, the council member doesn’t just hate capitalism; she promotes communism. 

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Let’s look at some of her earlier statements when she was first elected to her position in 2019:

“I don’t believe that our current economic system actually works. Capitalism, by design, is extractive, and in order to generate profit in a capitalist system, something has to be exploited.”

Interesting, so what system would be better, Candi?

“I believe in community ownership of land, labor, resources, and distribution of those resources.”

And there it is.

Oh, It Gets So Much Better

After her comments that advocated for communism, Ms. CdeBaca received considerable backlash, which is precisely the point of making such statements – to in-turn garner the attention that allows people like her to push a narrative of victimhood and false self-righteousness.

However, in an interview after the backlash, Ms. CdeBaca doubled down, correcting the claims that she is a communist:

“…you could call me an anarchist.”

Anarchist? Since when do anarchists believe people should pay more taxes to a government they believe shouldn’t exist?

She went on to describe her version of anarchy as:

“Anarchy is about us not needing that imposed structure from anyone, and just being cognizant and caring and compassionate enough to take care of ourselves and our communities and each other without anyone making it happen.” 

Fair enough. But then shouldn’t she be writing bills to abolish the city government, instead of… increasing their revenue? Her means and ends seem to be at total cross-purposes.

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A Means To An End

The call for reparations, either through blanket checks or through various schemes like race-based taxes, is merely the inching of our country from a democracy to a communist state. But, unfortunately, this idea is spreading, and we can thank our friends in California for that.

The California Reparations Task Force has recently formally recommended that the state give $1.2 million to every qualifying black resident. Whether the state will push forward with the proposal remains to be seen, but these small steps lead to giant leaps in policy.

Democrat Congresswoman Barbara Lee applauded the recommendation, saying:

“Reparations are not only morally justifiable, but they have the potential to address longstanding racial disparities and inequalities.”

It is not morally justifiable to take money away from people who never owned slaves to give to people who never were slaves to repair the harm done by slavery.

Ms. CdeBaca said in the recent forum:

“Reparations’ goal should not be survival, it should be repairing the harm, which is this entire economy.”

The entire economy?

Whatever It Takes

I’m not sure what is more terrifying. That we have Americans across this country who keep electing communists, or that nobody seems to be calling these people out for making no sense.

Ms. CdeBaca said at the forum:

“Not all black people in this city are struggling to survive, but every black person in this city should benefit from reparations or any program that is aiming to do reparatory work.”

Acknowledging that black people in her city are doing well, yet simultaneously saying they deserve reparations for the harm they haven’t felt – brilliance.

When CdeBaca first came to office, she promised that her ideal of community ownership would be her priority, stating:

“…whatever that morphs into, I think is what will serve community the best, and I’m excited to usher it in by any means necessary.”

While we probably won’t see the violent takeover of our country, perhaps this means is worse. It is covert, slow, and determined, and if we don’t pay attention…it will win.