A new analysis finds that Vice President Harris’ recently unveiled proposal to ease the burden on American families could increase the national budget deficit by $1.7 trillion over 10 years, even as her campaign pledges to offset the deficit through taxes on the wealthy.
Harris Published President Trump on Friday unveiled several proposals as part of his economic package if he wins the presidential election later this year, including a measure to strengthen the child tax credit (CTC) to provide a $6,000 tax break for families with newborns.
The plan also calls for reviving the CTC expansion passed in 2021 as part of the sweeping coronavirus relief package known as the American Rescue Plan, providing some families with a tax credit of up to $3,600 per child.
In an analysis released late Friday by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB), the committee estimated that Harris’ proposed CTC expansion could cost $1.2 trillion from fiscal years 2026 to 2035.
The CRFB noted that other measures proposed in the plan – expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), creating a tax credit for first-time homebuyers, extending the Affordable Care Act’s expansion of the premium tax credit, and efforts to support affordable housing – could cost more than $700 billion over the same period.
The group estimates the proposed plan would cost $1.95 trillion over 10 years, but notes that figure could rise to $2.25 trillion if some of the housing proposals that would be put in place if Harris is elected are made permanent.
But the group said the estimated costs would be “partially offset” by other agenda items aimed at reducing prescription drug costs, which could result in “approximately $250 billion in savings.”
“The Harris campaign stresses that the key housing measure would only be in effect for four years, but if it were extended permanently, the fiscal impact would grow to $2 trillion,” the group said.
The agenda does not specify how the measure would be paid for, but the campaign said Friday that any additional costs beyond the fiscal 2025 budget “will be offset by higher corporate and upper-income taxes.”
The analysis is the latest estimate to highlight the potential costs of some of the economic plans of Harris and former President Donald Trump as they compete for the White House.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) also projected in May that an extension of tax cuts passed as part of President Trump’s signature 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act could add trillions of dollars to the national budget deficit over the next decade or so.
