Septa Cuts as a Double Tax on Black Philadelphians

There’s no debating whether Harrisburg’s severe funding cuts to SEPTA are a racial justice issue. Paired with the incoming fare increases, the Black residents who make up more than half of ridership are now paying twice. First, through the federal, state, and local taxes they pay each year that already support the system. Then again, through higher fares, longer commutes, and reduced access to jobs, healthcare, childcare, and more.

This is what Anne Price and her team at the Maven Collaborative call “ quiet violence ,” or the unequal tax structures and broader forms of economic extraction that disproportionately siphon resources from Black people and Black women, in particular.

Rectifying the inequities exposed by the SEPTA crisis won’t just repair the harm that’s currently unfoldi