A black actor has condemned the idea of giving six-figure checks to descendants of slaves and suggested that they be given tax-exempt status instead.
Faizon Love, 54, is a Cuban-born American actor most widely known for his roles in “Elf,” “Friday” and “The Meteor Man.”
He said during a recent interview with Vlad TV that the $223,200 reparation payments proposed by a California reparations task force would simply be used to buy luxury vehicles.
“F*** that. That’s another trick, man. You know why? Because that money’s gonna go right back to Cadillac and right back to … [Mercedes] Benz,” Love said, when asked about the California committee.
Faizon Love says black people will use reparations money to buy Cadillacs and Mercedes pic.twitter.com/DaY9mEUOjB
— DTN NEWS (@DTNNEWUpdates) December 17, 2022
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Love said that African slaves were once considered a “tax write-off” and suggested that, instead of giving African-Americans one large sum of money, they should be given lifelong tax-exempt status.
Love initially claimed that “taxes” in general were created to fund the Civil War, leading to a small dispute with his interviewer, who corrected him and told him that it was actually the income tax.
As they noted, the income tax was passed by Abraham Lincoln in 1862 in order to fund the Union’s fight against the Confederacy during the Civil War.
Should reparations be considered at all in America?
Yes: 2% (8 Votes)
No: 98% (463 Votes)
At the time, anyone who earned $600-$10,000 was taxed 3 percent of their income, according to World Atlas. Those who earned more than $10,000 paid 5 percent. The income tax was repealed after the war, but was revived near the turn of the 20th century.
Love previously drew criticism for comments defending Bill Cosby, who was facing allegations of sexual assault.
Comedian Faizon Love Compares Bill Cosby to Emmett Till Amid Veteran Comic’s Conviction https://t.co/JE8KyKxvYe pic.twitter.com/XPkzRzBSCk
— Black News Zone (@blacknewszone) April 27, 2018
The topic of reparations was discussed during this week’s public hearings at the Oakland, California, City Hall.
As the Daily Mail reported, a woman by the name of Carol Williams said at the hearings that “reparations should be tax free, so that when we get the money the IRS won’t come after us.”
“And I’m pleading and I’m asking that when we make the decision of lineage, we save those who have been in California since 2000,” Williams said.
Deon Jenkins, who the Daily Mail reported was an activist who has unsuccessfully run for president and the Senate, suggested reparations should be as much as the average cost of a house in California, which is currently about $765,000, according to Zillow.
Another man, Max Fennel, agreed that reparations should be higher since “we worked for free.”
“We’re not asking; we’re telling you,” Fennel said, according to the Daily Mail. “The tangibles of what I’m asking for is $350,000 per black American in California that’s tangible, small business grant $250,000 and land 15-20 acres.”
Others at the hearings called on officials to take action to fix California’s homelessness crisis.
