Dorothy A. Brown

Dorothy A. Brown is a legal scholar specializing in tax law and racial equity. She holds the Martin D. Ginsburg Chair in Taxation at Georgetown University Law Center. Brown earned a Bachelor of Science from Fordham University, a JD from Georgetown University Law Center, and an LLM in Tax from New York University School of Law. Her professional background includes work as a tax attorney, investment banker, and an appointment at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Brown transitioned to academia, teaching at Washington and Lee University School of Law, where she directed the Frances Lewis Law Center, as well as at George Mason University, the University of Cincinnati, Emory University, and Georgetown.

Brown's scholarship focuses on the racial implications of federal tax policy and advocates for reforms to address inequities in the U.S. tax system. She challenges the perception of the tax code as colorblind, demonstrating how it can reinforce the racial wealth gap by disproportionately benefiting white taxpayers and disadvantaging Black Americans. Her book, "The Whiteness of Wealth: How the Tax System Impoverishes Black Americans—and How We Can Fix It," examines tax policy through a critical race theory lens and explores the Black-white wealth gap with an emphasis on tax reforms. Brown's research has been featured in Bloomberg Businessweek and she has testified before the Senate Finance Committee on inequality in the tax code.

Brown's work addresses tax policy by race, class, and gender, workplace equity and inclusion, and law school reform. She is the author of "Critical Race Theory: Cases, Materials and Problems," which applies a racial lens to foundational law school courses, and co-author of "Federal Income Taxation: Cases, Problems, and Materials." Brown teaches courses in Critical Race Theory, Fundamentals of Income Tax, and Partnership Taxation, and has received teaching awards at multiple law schools. She was co-recipient of the Clyde Ferguson Award from the AALS Minority Groups Section for excellence in public service, teaching, and scholarship.

After researching "The Whiteness of Wealth," Brown concluded that tax reform alone would not close the racial wealth gap and that reparations are necessary. This perspective informed her book, "Getting to Reparations: How Building a Different America Requires a Reckoning with Our Past," which outlines a legal and policy framework for reparations for Black Americans, drawing on historical case studies of government compensation to other groups. The book has been featured on NPR's All Things Considered and covered in major media outlets. Brown has published extensively on race, class, and tax policy, and has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, PBS, and NPR, with opinion pieces in Forbes, The New York Times, and The Washington Post.