Vice President Kamala Harris, trying to separate her economic message from President Biden‘s as the 2024 presidential campaign enters a crucial stage, proposed a smaller capital gains tax than the president and a $50,000 tax deduction to boost small businesses.
The Democratic presidential nominee called for hiking the capital gains tax rate for households earning $1 million or more a year to 28%, compared to the 39.6% increase Biden laid out in his 2025 budget.
The current top capital gains tax rate is 20%.
Harris, who has touted an “opportunity economy” on the campaign trail, also said she was in favor of a $50,000 tax deduction for new small businesses.
“As president, one of my highest priorities will be to strengthen America’s small businesses,” she told a roaring crowd in North Hampton, N.H.
As the Democratic nominee, Harris finds herself walking a fine line between making sure the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share and encouraging investment opportunities as the economy plays a large role in this year’s presidential election.
“My plan will make our tax code more fair, while also prioritizing investments and innovation,” she said Wednesday. “So let us be clear: Billionaires and big corporations must pay their fair share in tax.”
In that regard, she backs Biden’s measure, known as the “Billionaire Minimum Income Tax,” that would place a minimum 25% tax on households worth more than $100 million.
“No billionaire should pay a lower tax rate than a teacher, a sanitation worker, a nurse. That’s why I’ve proposed a minimum tax of 25% for billionaires,” Biden said at his State of the Union address in March, noting that the average tax rate for billionaires is just 8.2%.
The president said the tax would generate $500 billion over the next 10 years.
Republicans have pounded on Harris for pushing progressive policy ideas during her 2020 presidential run and say she will continue Biden’s economic policies if she enters the White House.
But Harris’ supporters say she has reached out to CEOs to assure them that she will tack a different economic course than her boss.
“She will hear what are the pros and cons, and she will adjust and is open to alternative ideas without compromising her values,” Penny Pritzker, a billionaire and former commerce secretary under President Barack Obama told the New York Times.
“One of the things I like that she’s saying is not, we have to choose between business and labor; we can work with both of them,” Pritzker said.
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