Former MSNBC host Joy Reid criticized the idea of eliminating income taxes while attacking the Republican Party during a BET Talks event on Monday.

Reid said during the BET interview that conservatives have a goal of forcing the country back to the early 20th century — if not the 19th — based on the desire for a "hierarchical past" with White men on top. She warned that part of what conservatives hope to restore includes not only a racial hierarchy but also a rollback of business regulations.

"And one of the reasons they're so serious about it is that, if you go back before the 20th century, there were no income taxes," Reid said. "There were no regulations on business. You could earn as much money as you want, leave 100% of it to your children with no taxes. That's the world they want back." 

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She added, "And to get it back, they need society to change. They need people to be less modern. They need people to want fewer things. They need people to be satisfied just being workers. And they don't really believe that any of us have natural rights."

The federal income tax was introduced in 1913 with the ratification of the 16th Amendment.

During the talk, Reid emphasized the importance of being both a journalist and an activist, calling journalists "the last thing standing between us and fascism."

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"I mean, one of the things that, you know, people say is alarmist to say, but it is just true, is that we are in a fascist moment," Reid said. "And what that means is a right-wing, White nationalist, White supremacist moment that is centered around hierarchy."

Fox News Digital reached out to Reid for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

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Reid has long been known for controversial remarks about conservatives since working as an MSNBC anchor. In 2021, she wrote on X (then Twitter) that conservatives would actually trade tax cuts for the opportunity to be openly racist.

"I'll say it again: people on the right would trade all the tax cuts for the ability to openly say the n-word like in 'the good old days.' To them, not being able to be openly racist and discriminatory without consequence is oppression. Trump is the avatar for this 'freedom,'" Reid wrote.