Harris Unveils Economic Policies on Campaign Website

It’s the first time the Harris campaign has outlined a detailed policy platform since President Joe Biden ended his reelection campaign and Harris became the Democratic nominee.
Harris’ economic vision emulates many parts of the president’s 2024 election strategy by pledging tax cuts for more than 100 million working- and middle-class families and vowing to make wealthy Americans and large corporations “pay their fair share.”
Specifically, the campaign promised to roll back the Trump-era tax cuts, institute a billionaire minimum tax, quadruple the tax on stock buybacks, and enact a 28 percent tax on long-term capital gains for Americans earning $1 million or more per year.
Additionally, Harris’s policy page suggests restoring the Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Tax Cut.
“Through these two programs, millions of Americans get to keep more of their hard-earned income,” the campaign wrote. “They will also expand the Child Tax Credit to provide a $6,000 tax cut to families with newborn children.”
Harris, the campaign says, will lobby to raise the minimum wage and abolish subminimum wages for tipped workers and people with disabilities. The statement stopped short of offering a dollar figure.
The federal hourly minimum wage has been $7.25 since July 2009, while the subminimum wage for tipped workers is $2.13.
Other economic objectives double down on previous announcements.
On the housing front, Harris’s plan involves addressing the housing affordability challenges gripping the U.S. real estate market.
She would “make rent more affordable and home ownership more attainable” by building 3 million rental units and homes, the campaign says. This will be achieved by cutting red tape to construct more housing faster and by punishing companies that “hoard available homes to drive up prices for local homebuyers.”
For renters and prospective homebuyers, she supports signing legislation “to outlaw new forms of price fixing by corporate landlords” and giving first-time homebuyers up to $25,000 in down payment assistance.
Median existing-home prices reached an all-time high this summer. The nationwide median asking rent was $1,647 in July, just below the record high registered in 2022.
For health care, the vice president supports extending the $35 cap on insulin prices and the $2,000 cap on out-of-pocket spending. The website suggested Medicare and Social Security beneficiaries could “count on getting benefits they earned.”
These federal programs would be strengthened “for the long haul by making millionaires and billionaires pay their fair share in taxes,” according to the policy page.
Harris would also maintain the current administration’s energy policies, according to the campaign outline.
The Harris campaign claimed that these measures are in “stark contrast” to Trump’s plans.
Moreover, the platform states that the former president would fight to protect these federal programs “with no cuts, including no changes to the retirement age,” among other measures.
However, Trump continues outperforming Harris on one key issue: the economy.
The economy remains a top subject for voters heading into the ballot box. The Emerson survey, released on Sept. 5, suggests that 43 percent of voters consider the economy their primary issue, followed by immigration (15 percent).
While U.S. gross domestic product keeps expanding and the growth rate of price inflation has stabilized, multiple surveys continue to spotlight the public’s concerns about the broader economy, from elevated prices to the slowing labor market.
“Consumers’ assessments of the current labor situation, while still positive, continued to weaken, and assessments of the labor market going forward were more pessimistic,” said Dana M. Peterson, the chief economist at The Conference Board. “This likely reflects the recent increase in unemployment. Consumers were also a bit less positive about future income.”
The New York Fed also reported data that show more than one-third (37.7 percent) expect the unemployment rate to be higher one year from now.
The U.S. economy added 142,000 new jobs in August, fewer than expected, and the unemployment rate dipped to 4.2 percent.
The first debate between Trump and Harris, hosted by ABC News, is set for 9 p.m. EST on Sept. 10.