Harris to propose tax cuts for middle-class Americans as part of economic policy rollout
(CNN) — Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday is expected to propose a new plan to cut taxes for middle-class and lower-income Americans as part of her economic policy rollout, according to Harris-Walz campaign officials. The plan would offer tax relief for more than 100 million Americans.
Much of the plan revives or extends temporary measures that President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats enacted in major packages when the party controlled Congress during the first two years of Biden’s term.
Harris’ proposal would restore the American Rescue Plan’s popular expansion of the child tax credit to as much as $3,600, up from $2,000, and call for it to be made permanent. The enhancement was only in effect in 2021. Biden and Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill have been unsuccessful in their efforts to partially revive it – in part because of its hefty price tag. A bipartisan bill that would have temporarily beefed up the child tax credit passed the House earlier this year but was blocked by Republicans in the Senate.
The proposal would also add a new child tax credit of up to $6,000 for middle-class and lower-income families with children in their first year of life. That’s when a family’s expenses, such as cribs, diapers and car seats, can be at their highest and when many parents have to take time off from their jobs, the campaign noted.
Harris’ economic policy would also expand the earned income tax credit, known as the EITC, to offer frontline workers without dependent children a tax reduction of up to $1,500. The American Rescue Plan enhanced the maximum credit, which is available to workers in lower-income jobs, to roughly that amount, but the enhancement to the EITC was only in effect for 2021.
The vice president’s package calls for extending the more generous Affordable Care Act premium subsidies that are set to expire at the end of 2025. The enhancement, which was made available through the American Rescue Plan and extended by the Inflation Reduction Act, has helped push sign-ups for Obamacare coverage to record levels.
Harris’ proposed plan does not specify how long these costly provisions would be in effect.
The vice president is set to formally unveil her economic policy later Friday during a speech in Raleigh, North Carolina. CNN previously reported that her broader economic policy will include a four-year plan to lower housing costs, including $25,000 in down payment assistance for first-time homeowners and actions aimed at spurring the construction of new housing, including tax incentives for building starter homes. She is also expected to call for a federal ban on price gouging to lower grocery prices and everyday costs.
Harris’ tax cuts proposal comes as she faces constant attacks from the Trump campaign, particularly the GOP vice presidential nominee, JD Vance, for being anti-family. Vance told CBS News over the weekend that he wants to increase the child tax credit to $5,000 per child. Former President Donald Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 doubled the child tax credit to the current $2,000 – though that enhancement is set to expire at the end of next year, along with the law’s other individual income tax provisions.
The Harris campaign argued against Trump’s economic agenda as it seeks to draw a stark contrast, arguing he is “running on a promise to give another billionaire tax break to his ultra-wealthy friends.” The former president’s plan, according to the campaign, “will give billionaires a tax handout of $3.5 million apiece each year, give big corporations a $1.5 trillion windfall, and make it easier for wealthy tax cheats to avoid paying what they own.”