Vanessa S. Williamson
Senior Fellow in Governance Studies; Senior Fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, The Brookings Institution
Chapter Member: Maryland-Washington, D.C. SSN
Areas of Expertise:
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About Vanessa
Williamson’s research focuses on the politics of taxation in America. She worked at the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America from 2004 to 2010; serving as their Policy Director from 2007.
Contributions
The Tea Party Lives On - And Pulls Republicans to the Right
Key Findings Brief,
Who Pays America's Taxes?
Basic Facts Brief,
Making Sense of the Tea Party
Key Findings Brief,
No Jargon Podcast
In the News
Opinion: "The I.R.S. Can Register Voters As Well as the D.M.V., and Maybe Better," Vanessa S. Williamson (with ), The New York Times, September 29, 2021.
Opinion: "Tonight, Biden Could Use Trump’s Returns to Shift the Debate on Taxes," Vanessa S. Williamson, The Washington Post, September 29, 2020.
Quoted by Perry Bacon Jr. in "GOP Politicians are Much More Resistant to Gun Control than GOP Voters Are ," FiveThirtyEight, August 6, 2019.
Research discussed by , in "Spelling Out Where Your Federal Tax Dollars Go," Wisconsin Public Radio, April 12, 2019.
Opinion: "The Filer Voter Experiment: How Effective is Voter Registration at Tax Time?," Vanessa S. Williamson, Brookings, April 2, 2019.
Opinion: "'Tax-the-Rich' Policies are All the Rage in the US," Vanessa S. Williamson, The Hill, February 17, 2019.
Opinion: "Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's 70 Percent Tax on the Rich Isn't about Revenue, It's about Decreasing Inequality," Vanessa S. Williamson, NBC Think, January 26, 2019.
Research discussed by , in "Trump Promises Another Tax Cut for Middle-Class," ABC4 News, October 25, 2018.
Interviewed in "Why the U.S. Tax System is so Complicated — but Americans are Proud to Pay Taxes Anyway," (with ) The Washington Post, April 12, 2018.
Opinion: "Right-to-Work Laws Have Devastated Unions — and Democrats," Vanessa S. Williamson (with ), New York Times, March 8, 2018.
Quoted by Andrew Hanna and Caitlin Emma in "Supreme Court Could Cripple Public Unions in Run-Up to 2018 Midterms," Politico, February 25, 2018.
Quoted by Noam Gidron in "The Left Shouldn’t Fear Nationalism. It Should Embrace It.," Vox, February 8, 2018.
Opinion: "What Can (or Should) Activists Learn from the Tea Party?," Vanessa S. Williamson (with ), The Washington Post, May 11, 2017.
Guest on WBUR, February 13, 2017.
Opinion: "How the Women’s March Could Have a Lasting Historical Impact," Vanessa S. Williamson, Teen Vogue, January 19, 2017.
Opinion: "Choose Your Own Post-Mortem: Part 1," Vanessa S. Williamson (with ), Brookings Institution, November 16, 2016.
Opinion: "Choose Your Own Post-Mortem: Part 2," Vanessa S. Williamson (with ), Brookings Institution, November 16, 2016.
Opinion: "What the Tea Party Tells Us about the Trump Presidency," Vanessa S. Williamson, Brookings Institution, November 9, 2016.
Opinion: "Getting Federal Stimulus Money Turned Blue U.S. Counties Bluer, and Red Counties Redder. How Can That Be?," Vanessa S. Williamson (with ), The Washington Post, June 2, 2016.
Opinion: "Can Sanders Do for Income Inequality What Clinton Did for Healthcare?," Vanessa S. Williamson, Brookings Institution, May 23, 2016.
Quoted by Jeff Stein in "How Conservative Megadonors Built a Shadow GOP That Weakened the Official Party," Vox, April 14, 2016.
Opinion: "Clinton v. Sanders: New Democrats or the New Deal?," Vanessa S. Williamson, Brookings Institution, January 19, 2016.
Opinion: "Trump's 'Populist' Tax Plan is Nothing but a Bush-Era Giveaway to the Rich," Vanessa S. Williamson, Talking Points Memo, September 29, 2015.
Opinion: "How Bush-Appointed Ivy Leaguer Ted Cruz Became a Tea Party Darling," Vanessa S. Williamson, Talking Points Memo, March 25, 2015.
Quoted by Elias Isquith in "Tom Coburn’s Lunacy and the Real Meaning of the Immigration Fight," Salon, November 20, 2014.
Research discussed by , in "Fox News' Divisive Race Strategy: How O'Reilly, Hannity and Coulter Intentionally Tore America Apart," Salon, May 17, 2014.
Interviewed in "Interview to discuss The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism," The Rachel Maddow Show, December 9, 2011.
Publications
"The ‘Tax Cuts and Jobs Act’ and the 2018 Midterms: Examining the Potential Electoral Impact," Brookings, August 27, 2018.
"The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism" (with ) (Oxford University Press, 2012).
Shows how grassroots activism, elite funders and policy advocates, and the right-wing media interact to allow the Tea Party to boost the GOP and prod it to the right. Includes interviews with grass roots activists and an analysis of the role of the Tea Party in the 2010 and 2012 elections.