Kamala Harris's economic proposals

Topic

Economic policies proposed by Kamala Harris, including a 25% unrealized gains tax, a wealth tax, and price caps on goods to combat 'price gouging'. These proposals are viewed as potentially disastrous for the startup ecosystem by many in Silicon Valley.


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8/23/2025, 5:49:35 PM

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8/23/2025, 5:59:58 PM

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8/23/2025, 5:59:58 PM

Summary

Kamala Harris's economic proposals, formulated during her 2024 presidential campaign, were characterized as a "populist" agenda that marked a departure from some of Joe Biden's economic positions. Key proposals included advocating for limited government control over grocery and food prices, capping prescription drug costs, and significantly expanding the child tax credit (to $3,600 per child and a new $6,000 for newborns). Her platform also focused on addressing the housing crisis by calling for the construction of 3 million new housing units and offering tax incentives for 'starter' homes, alongside expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit. While she proposed raising corporate income tax rates to offset costs, she pledged not to increase taxes for Americans earning up to $400,000. A specific proposal, the "Unrealized Gains Tax," drew criticism from figures like Reid Hoffman, though Hoffman ultimately supported Harris due to his opposition to Donald Trump. Analyses by organizations such as the Wharton Budget Model and the Tax Foundation projected that her proposals would increase deficits and could lead to reductions in long-run GDP and employment. Despite these proposals, Harris ultimately lost the 2024 presidential election to Donald Trump.

Referenced in 1 Document
Research Data
Extracted Attributes
  • EITC Details

    Cut taxes for frontline workers by up to $1,500

  • Overall Focus

    Pro-middle class and pro-business

  • Key Policy Area

    Investment in educational opportunities, apprenticeships, and mentorship programs for Black men

  • Characterization

    Populist economic agenda

  • Tax Policy (Income)

    No tax increase for Americans earning up to $400,000

  • Tax Policy (Corporate)

    Raise corporate income tax rate

  • Child Tax Credit Details

    Restore to $3,600 per child, new $6,000 for newborns

  • Controversial Tax Proposal

    Unrealized Gains Tax

  • Estimated Long-Run GDP Reduction (Tax Foundation)

    2.0 percent

  • Estimated Long-Run Wages Reduction (Tax Foundation)

    1.2 percent

  • Estimated 10-Year Deficit Increase (Wharton, dynamic)

    $2.0 trillion

  • Estimated 10-Year Gross Tax Increase (Tax Foundation)

    $4.1 trillion

  • Estimated Long-Run Employment Reduction (Tax Foundation)

    786,000 full-time equivalent jobs

  • Estimated 10-Year Deficit Increase (Wharton, conventional)

    $1.2 trillion

  • Estimated Long-Run Capital Stock Reduction (Tax Foundation)

    3.0 percent

Timeline
  • Kamala Harris announced her 2024 presidential campaign, which included the development of these economic proposals. (Source: Wikipedia)

    2024-07-21

  • Kamala Harris debuted a string of new economic proposals focused on food prices, taxes, housing, and medical costs. (Source: Web Search)

    2024-08-16

  • Kamala Harris rolled out new economic proposals specifically aimed at Black men. (Source: Web Search)

    2024-10-14

  • Kamala Harris lost the general election to Donald Trump, meaning her economic proposals would not be implemented as her presidential agenda. (Source: Wikipedia)

    2024-11-06

Kamala Harris 2024 presidential campaign

Kamala Harris, the 49th vice president of the United States, announced her 2024 campaign for president on July 21, 2024. On that date, incumbent president Joe Biden withdrew his bid for reelection and immediately endorsed her as his successor. Harris became the nominee of the Democratic Party on August 5 following a virtual roll call vote. She selected Minnesota governor Tim Walz as her running mate the following day. The two faced off against, and were defeated by, the Republican ticket of former president Donald Trump and U.S. senator JD Vance of Ohio. Harris's domestic platform was similar to Biden's on some issues. She supported national abortion protections, LGBT+ rights, stricter gun control, and legislation to address climate change. She also supported federal cannabis legalization, strengthening voting rights, strengthening the Affordable Care Act, and federal funding of housing. Harris departed from Biden on economic issues, proposing what has been described as a "populist" economic agenda. Harris advocated for limited government control of grocery and food prices, a cap on prescription drug costs, and expansion of the child tax credit. On immigration, Harris supported increasing the number of Border Patrol agents and reforming the immigration system. On foreign policy, she supported continued military aid to Ukraine and Israel in their respective wars, but insisted that Israel should agree to a ceasefire and hostage deal and work towards a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In September 2024, the campaign was bolstered by a strong performance by Harris in the presidential debate against Trump. Harris was declared the winner of the debate by many political analysts. Post-debate polls indicated a close presidential contest. Harris lost the general election and the national popular vote to Republican former president Donald Trump on November 6, 2024; she conceded the following day. Harris lost all of the major battleground states, included the blue wall states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, were considered key to her defeat.

Web Search Results
  • Harris has proposed a slew of economic policies. Here's a look at ...

    Harris has proposed a slew of economic policies. Here’s a look at what’s in them ================================================================================ Economy Aug 16, 2024 2:35 PM EDT WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris is out with a string of new economic proposals focused on food prices, taxes, housing and medical costs that she says will empower the middle class. WATCH: Harris debuts economic proposals to lower costs for Americans [...] Housing ------- Harris is calling for the construction of 3 million new housing units over four years, which she says will ease a “serious housing shortage in America.” She also plans to promote legislation creating a new series of tax incentives for builders who construct “starter” homes sold to first-time homebuyers. [...] The vice president also proposed to make permanent a $3,600 per child tax credit approved through 2025 for eligible families, while offering a new $6,000 tax credit for those with newborn children. She says a Harris administration would work to expand the Earned Income Tax Credit to cut taxes for some frontline workers by up to $1,500 and reduce taxes on healthcare plans offered on the marketplace created by the Affordable Care Act. Insightful, trustworthy journalism, for everyone.

  • Kamala Harris' Economic Platform: What We Know - Forbes

    Vice President Kamala Harris rolled out new economic proposals Monday aimed at Black men, adding to the economic plans she’s already released as the nominee has already called for an “opportunity economy” focused on the middle class and released proposals that include lowering grocery and prescription drug prices and addressing the housing crisis. ## Key Facts [...] “Opportunity Agenda” For Black Men: The Harris campaign rolled out proposals Monday aimed at garnering support from Black men, including on the economy, which include providing fully forgivable $20,000 loans to Black entrepreneurs to start businesses, creating a regulatory framework for cryptocurrency—citing the fact that more than 20% of Black Americans own crypto assets—and investing in educational opportunities, apprenticeships and mentorship programs for Black men while also creating more [...] responded to. Experts believe the ex-president’s proposal could speed up Social Security and Medicare becoming insolvent, with the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget projecting exempting taxes on benefits would result in Social Security and Medicare receiving $1.6 trillion less in revenue between 2026 and 2035. The Trump campaign opposed reports of Harris’ economic proposals in September, with spokesperson Steven Cheung saying in a statement, “Kamala Harris can’t hide from her

  • The 2024 Harris Campaign Policy Proposals: Budgetary, Economic ...

    Harris Campaign Proposals The Harris campaign proposals would reduce taxes on low- and middle-income households by expanding the Child Tax Credit (CTC), expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), increasing premium subsidies for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and providing down payment assistance to qualified first-time homebuyers. It would also increase corporate taxes to partially offset the costs of those proposals. More specifically: [...] Summary: We estimate that the Harris Campaign tax and spending proposals would increase primary deficits by $1.2 trillion over the next 10 years on a conventional basis and by $2.0 trillion on a dynamic basis that includes a reduction in economic activity. Lower and middle-income households generally benefit from increased transfers and credits on a conventional basis, while higher-income households are worse off. Key Points [...] The 2024 Harris presidential campaign recently announced several spending and tax policy proposals. Building on President Biden’s Fiscal Year 2025 budget, Harris would expand existing benefits for low- and middle-income households in the tax code and create new subsidies to support homeownership. The cost of these benefit expansions would be partially offset by raising the corporate income tax rate.

  • [PDF] Kamala Harris's Economic Program - Ifri

    especially from Republicans who pointed to a soaring federal debt (now sitting around $35.6 trillion) and high inflation during his presidential term. Although many of Harris’s preliminary economic policy proposals align closely with the Bidenomics objective of helping the middle class, there have been fewer indications by the Harris campaign so far on the two other Bidenomics objectives, namely clean energy and competition with China. Harris appears to want to expand beyond the scope of [...] applications filed during Biden’s presidency. Helping working-class families Child-rearing is another key focus of Harris’s proposed economic agenda through the enhancement of the Child Tax Credit, which would restore the American Rescue Plan Act’s expansion of the child tax credit to as much as $3,600 and add a newborn tax credit of up to $6,000 for middle-class and lower-income families with children in their first year of life. Harris also aims to provide better, more affordable childcare in [...] Her plan is both pro-middle class and pro-business, with numerous measures on housing, child tax credit, healthcare, small businesses and grocery prices; and a detailed project for developing critical industry and innovation.  Following Trump’s 2017 tax reform, Harris proposes not to increase taxes on Americans earning up to 400,000 dollars, while ensuring the wealthiest individuals and companies pay more.  Critics point to a lack of details on clean energy as well as trade and technology

  • Kamala Harris Tax Plan Ideas: Details and Analysis - Tax Foundation

    Vice President Harris has not specifically outlined all her proposed changes to federal spending. While we do not assume any additional spending as part of our formal score, Harris has proposed investing in affordable childcare and long-term care programs, including an expansion of Medicare, among other unspecified spending proposals, which would reduce net revenue collection further. [...] On a gross basis, we estimate that Vice President Harris’s proposals would increase taxes by about $4.1 trillion from 2025 to 2034. After taking various credits and tax cuts into account, Harris would raise about $1.7 trillion over 10 years on a conventional basis, and after factoring in reduced revenue from slower economic growth, the net revenue increase comes to $642 billion. We estimate the proposed tax changes would reduce long-run GDP by 2.0 percent, the capital stock by 3.0 percent, [...] We estimate the tax changes in Harris’s tax proposals would reduce long-run GDP by 2.0 percent, the capital stock by 3.0 percent, wages by 1.2 percent, and employment by about 786,000 full-time equivalent jobs. Harris’s tax proposals would decrease American incomes (as measured by gross national product, or GNP) by 1.8 percent in the long run, reflecting offsetting effects of increased taxes and reduced deficits, as debt reduction reduces interest payments to foreign owners of the national