As the April 15 tax filing deadline approaches, Color of Change Executive Director Portia Allen-Kyle is urging Black taxpayers to be on high alert for deceptive practices and structural pitfalls in the tax system. “The biggest thing we are letting folks know is that there is a free option 70% of taxpayers qualify for,” Allen-Kyle said, referring to the IRS’s Direct File program during an appearance on BlackPressUSA.com’s Let It Be Known news morning show. “It cuts out the corporate middleman. You no longer need to go to H&R Block or use TurboTax or hit up Jackson Hewitt,” she said. She said the free IRS Direct File option can save time and money for most taxpayers, many of whom remain unaware they qualify. But Allen-Kyle warned that deeper, more systemic threats remain, including the proliferation of refund anticipation loans, which often function as high-cost payday loans. “Sometimes they take 30% off the top of your refund,” she said. “And they’re not required to disclose the interest rates or terms. With IRS staffing cuts, if your refund is delayed, those lenders will come for you.”
Allen-Kyle co-authored the Color of Change report ‘How Tax Fairness Can Promote Racial Equity,’ which lays bare how the U.S. tax code has long rewarded the ultra-wealthy and White Americans while placing a disproportionate burden on Black taxpayers. The report points to capital gains tax preferences, corporate loopholes, and deductions that benefit wealthy White households far more than working-class families of color. “Our tax system isn’t just broken. It’s built that way,” Allen-Kyle said. “Black families are audited at three to five times the rate of others. And storefront tax prep services that prey on our communities are part of the problem.”
The continued gutting of the IRS further complicates the situation. Allen-Kyle noted that cuts go beyond customer service and threaten the agency’s ability to oversee the ultra-wealthy. “They’re closing IRS offices, cutting the folks who answer the phones, and most critically, cutting those responsible for auditing the rich,” she said. “When billionaires underpay their taxes, it’s Black communities who end up shouldering the cost.” Allen-Kyle also raised concerns about discussions within the Trump campaign to eliminate income taxes and replace them with tariffs.
“Taxes fund our schools, our hospitals, our roads. Getting rid of income tax means shifting the burden to the rest of us through sales and property taxes—taxes that disproportionately hurt working-class Black Americans.” She drew a direct line between these policies and civil rights, noting that the Department of Education was a legacy of the Civil Rights Act and Brown v. Board of Education. “These attacks on education are attacks on the legacies of the civil rights movement itself.”
Despite mounting challenges, Color of Change continues to organize, build power, and demand accountability at every level—from state attorneys general to corporate boardrooms. “There is no diversity ban or DEI backlash that will stop us,” Allen-Kyle said. “Even if the election had gone differently, we’d still be in this fight. Because this fight is bigger than any one administration.” Allen-Kyle had a final word for those who question whether a system built on inequality can ever deliver justice. “Start where you are to get where you want to go. Let’s try. Let’s organize. Let’s act. Because nothing changes if we do nothing.”
