Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday
An ambitious proposal As part of his economic plan if he wins the presidential election this year.
The proposals include tax cuts, boosting housing construction and a federal ban on food price gouging. Harris’ campaign has said the proposals are just part of her economic plan and would be priorities for her first 100 days in office if elected.
Here are some highlights from the speech series, as well as other notable pledges the vice president made during the campaign.
Expanding the Child Tax Credit
Harris’ plan calls for strengthening the child tax credit (CTC) to provide a $6,000 tax break for families with newborns, an issue Democrats have sought to contrast with Republicans in recent weeks.
The plan would grant “middle- and low-income families a combined tax cut of $6,000” during a child’s first year, according to a campaign fact sheet. It also seeks to revive the CTC expansion passed in 2021 as part of the sweeping coronavirus relief package known as the American Rescue Plan, giving some families a tax credit of $3,600 per child.
The plan was announced shortly after Republican senators blocked a bill to increase the CTC earlier this month over concerns about work requirements for recipients.
The plan also calls for expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit to include low-income people who are not raising children.
Prohibition on “price gouging”
The plan calls it the “first-ever federal ban on price gouging on food and grocery items,” but few details have been provided about how the proposal would be implemented.
The proposal is part of a larger effort to lower food prices and combat inflation, with polls showing that inflation remains a top concern for voters in the months leading up to the November presidential election. The plan also calls for rules to ensure companies “cannot unfairly exploit consumers to make excessive profits on food and everyday items.”
The plan also calls for giving the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general “new powers” to “investigate companies that violate the rules and impose tough new penalties.”
Expanding affordable housing
Harris’ plan would encourage the construction of three million new homes over the next four years and also includes a “first-of-its-kind” tax incentive for first-time homebuyers building their first home.
The plan calls for expanding existing tax credits for businesses that build affordable rental housing and creating a $40 billion federal fund to encourage construction. The plan also details a proposal to make some “federal lands available for repurposing for new and affordable housing development.”
The plan pushes for passage of the Stop Algorithmic Promotion of Rental Housing Cartels Act, which would give the FTC the power to crack down on rent fixing between property managers and landlords, as well as the Stop Predatory Investment Act, which aims to combat rising home prices by targeting tax breaks to investors who buy 50 or more single-family rental homes.
Helping first-time home buyers
Another plan proposed by Harris builds on an earlier Biden administration proposal that would provide first-time homebuyers with $25,000 in down payment assistance, in addition to a tax credit for first-time homebuyers.
Democratic lawmakers had sought to pass a similar bill as part of Biden’s sweeping “Build Back Better” initiative early in his presidency, but concerns from moderates over the plan’s size and cost made it difficult for the party to unite, and the major effort fizzled.
The Harris campaign said in a fact sheet that the vice president’s plan aims to “simplify and significantly expand” the Biden plan “by providing an average of $25,000 to all eligible first-time homebuyers, ensuring full participation of first-generation homebuyers, and providing more generous assistance to first-generation homeowners.”
Tip tax limits
Harris also voiced support last week for eliminating tip taxes on service and hospitality workers, surprising some Democrats because former President Trump had proposed a similar plan earlier this summer.
The moment came during a rally in Las Vegas on Saturday, where she also vowed to work to raise the minimum wage.
“I promise all of you here that if I were president, I would continue to fight for working families, including raising the minimum wage and eliminating the tip tax for service and hospitality workers,” Harris said at the time.
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimated this week that removing tipped income from federal revenue and raising the minimum wage could increase the national deficit by $100 billion to $200 billion over 10 years.
