Harris Announces Economic Initiatives On Official Campaign Website

The campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris has unveiled a comprehensive policy platform, marking the first time it has been outlined since President Joe Biden ended his reelection campaign and Harris became the Democratic nominee.

Harris’s economic vision closely aligns with President Biden’s strategy for the 2024 election. It includes pledges to provide tax cuts for over 100 million working- and middle-class families, while ensuring that wealthy Americans and large corporations pay their fair share.

Specifically, the campaign promises to reverse the tax cuts implemented during the Trump administration, introduce a minimum tax for billionaires, quadruple the tax on stock buybacks, and impose a 28 percent tax on long-term capital gains for individuals earning $1 million or more annually.

In addition, Harris’s policy page indicates a commitment to restoring the Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Tax Cut. The campaign highlights that these measures will enable millions of Americans to keep a larger portion of their hard-earned income. Furthermore, they propose expanding the Child Tax Credit to provide a $6,000 tax cut for families with newborn children.

Harris plans to advocate for an increase in the minimum wage and the elimination of subminimum wages for tipped workers and individuals with disabilities. However, the campaign does not specify a specific dollar figure for the proposed minimum wage.

Currently, the federal hourly minimum wage stands at $7.25, while the subminimum wage for tipped workers is $2.13.

Regarding housing, Harris aims to tackle the challenges of affordability in the U.S. real estate market. The plan involves constructing 3 million rental units and homes, while streamlining the construction process by reducing bureaucracy. The campaign also suggests penalizing companies that withhold available homes to drive up prices for local homebuyers.

To assist renters and first-time homebuyers, Harris supports enacting legislation to prohibit new forms of price fixing by corporate landlords, in addition to offering up to $25,000 in down payment assistance for qualifying individuals.

This summer, median existing-home prices reached a record high, and the nationwide median asking rent in July was $1,647, just below the all-time high of 2022.

In the area of healthcare, Vice President Harris is in favor of extending the $35 cap on insulin prices and the $2,000 cap on out-of-pocket spending. The campaign website also suggests that Medicare and Social Security beneficiaries can rely on receiving the benefits they have earned.

According to the policy page, Harris plans to ensure these federal programs are adequately funded by implementing fair taxation policies for millionaires and billionaires.

The campaign also emphasizes that Harris will maintain the current administration’s energy policies.

The campaign asserts that these policies are in stark contrast to those proposed by former President Trump.

However, Harris still trails Trump in one key aspect: the economy.

The state of the economy remains a prominent issue for voters as they head to the polls. According to the recent Emerson survey, 43 percent of voters consider the economy their primary concern, followed by immigration at 15 percent.

While the U.S. gross domestic product continues to grow and the rate of price inflation has stabilized, numerous surveys highlight the public’s concerns about various economic factors, ranging from rising prices to a sluggish labor market.

Dana M. Peterson, the chief economist at The Conference Board, commented, “Consumers’ assessments of the current labor situation, while still positive, continued to weaken, and assessments of the labor market going forward were more pessimistic. This likely reflects the recent increase in unemployment. Consumers were also a bit less positive about future income.”

Furthermore, data from the New York Fed shows that more than one-third (37.7 percent) of respondents expect the unemployment rate to be higher one year from now.

In August, the U.S. economy added 142,000 new jobs, which fell short of expectations, and the unemployment rate dipped to 4.2 percent.

The first debate between Trump and Harris, hosted by ABC News, is scheduled for 9 p.m. EST on September 10.