Don't Mess With Taxes

Vice President Kamala Harris, Democratic presidential nominee, revealed some of her economic plans in a speech Friday, Aug. 16, in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Screenshot of X-Twitter video)

Vice President Kamala Harris rolled out her presidential campaign’s economic proposals Friday in a roughly half-hour speech in Raleigh, North Carolina.

They included a federal ban on alleged corporate price gouging on food products, ways to help people buy their first home, and financial help for families.

Much of Harris’ assistance would come from tax breaks, some of them familiar fiscal tools, both enacted or previously proposed by the Biden Administration.

New tax credit for newborns: Harris told the friendly crowd that she wants to restore the expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC), which was part of COVID-19 relief measures.

That pandemic tax credit enacted in, and which expired at the end of, 2021 provided eligible families as much as $3,600 for qualifying children.

Harris, however, added to the family-friend benefit. She also proposed a new CTC for middle- and low-income families that would be worth $6,000 during the first year of a child’s life.

Residential tax breaks: As for housing, Harris followed her current boss’ position on helping more people get into their own houses for the first time.

President Joe Biden previously called for a new $10,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers, as well as down-payment assistance for the new buyers.

But Harris is approaching the housing shortage issue from the other side. She proposed a new tax incentive for companies that build more affordable residences for first-time buyers.

Winning, then enacting: Of course, Harris' tax proposals right now are not fleshed out. Most also would require Congressional approval.

And since it’s still two and a half months before we’ll know the wishes of Nov. 5 voters, every candidate's promises on the campaign trail are far from a sure thing.

But to help us make our ballot box decision, this weekend's Saturday Shout Outs go to some of the coverage of Harris' economic proposals.

“Harris has offered a string of new economic proposals. Here’s a closer look at what’s in them” by Will Weissert for the Associated Press

“Harris leans into populism with proposal for middle-class and lower-income tax relief” by Tami Luhby, Ebony Davis, and Eric Bradner for CNN

“Harris unveils economic plans on inflation, housing. Here's what economists think” by Max Zahn for ABC News

“Harris reveals good-vibes economic policies. Experts weigh in” by Medora Lee for USA Today

“Harris lays out economic plan” by Asma Khalid for NPR’s All Things Considered

“New homes and end to price-gouging: Harris sets economic goals” by Natalie Sherman for BBC News

“Harris calls for expanded child tax credit of up to $6,000 for families with newborns” by Kate Dore for CNBC

“Vice President Harris’s Tax Policy Ideas: Details and Analysis” by William McBride, Erica York, Garrett Watson, and Alex Muresianu for the Tax Foundation

“Harris pledges to tackle costs, build houses, lower taxes in economy speech” by Nandita Bose and Jeff Mason for Reuters

“Here’s what’s in Kamala Harris’s plan for the economy” by Aris Folley for The Hill

“Kamala Harris unveils populist policy agenda, with $6,000 credit for newborns” by Jeff Stein, Yasmeen Abutaleb, and Dan Diamond for the Washington Post

Consideration key: From a personal perspective, I’m on my fifth house. I also don’t have any children. So, much of Harris’ tax and proposals won’t do me any immediate good.

But I’m going to give her initial plans a look, wait for the specifics on how they would be implemented and how much they would cost and be paid for, and compare it to the Republican tax and economic plans.

Depending on how all that shakes out, Harris’ proposals to help others could work for me, too. That’s because I’m a believer in the approach that policies that make life better for all of us, do benefit us all in the long run.

You also might find these items of interest:

• TCJA: should it stay or should it go?
• A look at Project 2025, the purported guide to Trump 2.0
• Senate blocks bipartisan tax bill, dooming popular tax breaks

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