Tax policy will be an issue as Americans decide who should lead the nation for the next four years.
President Biden had been clear that rolling back the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA or Trump tax cuts) was his top priority.
Many provisions of the TCJA are set to expire at the end of 2025. Without congressional action, most Americans who did receive a tax cut, as numerous non-partisan analyses have confirmed, will receive a tax hike.
Now, the question is whether Vice President Kamala Harris would carry out her boss’s tax agenda if she ascends to the highest office.
In short, yes, she would at least based on her own words:
“On day one, we’re gonna repeal that tax bill!”
Americans for Tax Reform compiled ten occasions when Kamala Harris vowed or pledged to reverse the 2017 tax cuts. Watch it for yourself:
How those promises jive with a recent pledge from the Harris campaign spokespeople that she will not raise taxes on anyone making under $400,000 a year if elected remains to be seen, especially since she has yet to post issue positions on her website.
Kamala Harris’s past positions on taxes are filled with examples of Americans up and down the income ladder losing more income to taxes.
The Tax Foundation notes that during her 2020 campaign and while in the Biden-Harris administration, she has pushed for various tax increases, including:
- Raising the top marginal income tax rate on the top 1 percent to 39.6 percent
- Creating a new 4 percent “income-based premium” on households making more than $100,000 annually to pay for “Medicare for All.”
- Raising capital gains tax to ordinary tax income rates
- Hiking the corporate income tax rate from 21% to 35%
- Expanding the estate tax
- New taxes on stock and bond trades
A few policies she has advocated would help families rather than take money away from them:
- Creating a $3,000 refundable tax credit ($6,000 for married couples filing jointly) (the LIFT Act) for low- and middle-income taxpayers
- Creating a tax credit for rent payments made by renters who earn less than $100,000 and spend over 30 percent of their income on rent and utilities
Where candidate Harris stands on any of these tax policies now is uncertain, as she has yet to release any policy positions.
However, if we examine what she has said recently, voted for, or advocated for while in the Biden Administration, it’s safe to say that many Americans would see their taxes rise and new taxes be imposed. The question remains on what income levels those might be.
Every paycheck earner can expect a tax increase if she allows the 2017 tax cuts to expire or if she raises corporate taxes, which are largely passed onto workers in pay cuts.