Taxes for Humans: A Radical Reimagining of Financial Empowerment
For artists, freelancers, and the self-employed, tax season can feel like a looming cloud. A new book by artist-turned-tax-specialist Hannah Cole offers an antidote.
For freelancers, artists, and the self-employed, tax season can feel like a looming cloud. Hannah Cole’s Taxes for Humans: Simplify Your Taxes and Change the World When You’re Self-Employed (Wiley, 2025) offers a refreshing antidote: a guide that is as practical as it is empowering. Cole, an artist turned tax specialist and host of the Sunlight Tax podcast, brings empathy and clarity to a topic often shrouded in anxiety and jargon.
Cole’s book is not just about crunching numbers — it’s about dismantling fear and reclaiming your agency. With humor and warmth, she walks readers through planning, filing, and even fixing mistakes. As Joe Saul-Sehy, creator of the Stacking Benjamins podcast, puts it, “If you’ve ever thought, ‘Taxes are confusing,’ Hannah Cole will walk you through planning, filing, and ‘oops’ moments in the most entertaining book I’ve read on taxes.”
But Taxes for Humans goes beyond mechanics. It’s a manifesto for civic engagement and financial literacy, particularly for those historically left behind: women, queer people, BIPOC communities, and independent workers. William G. Gale, Co-Director of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, calls it “a rallying cry for civic engagement. What a gift!”
Cole’s approach is holistic. She connects financial well-being to personal and community well-being, offering strategies to get every deduction, and build systems that reduce stress. Her framework is designed for people with zero accounting background, making it accessible and actionable. Readers will learn not only how to survive tax season but how to thrive — ending the year stronger, smarter, and more financially secure.
Perfect for anyone who has ever felt overwhelmed by tax forms, Taxes for Humans is both a toolkit and a lifeline. Cole’s empathetic tone and practical advice make this book indispensable for creatives and entrepreneurs navigating the complexities of self-employment.
To order Taxes for Humans, visit bookshop.org.
The book is also available for purchase at Barnes & Noble and on Amazon.
