Harris Campaign Announces Their Economic Policy Platform

On Friday August 16th Vice President Harris unveiled her economic agenda in Raleigh North Carolina in her first major policy focused speech. The tenants of her plan are to go up against big corporations and work to bring down the cost of food, housing, and familial expenses. 

She stated that in her first 100 days she would make efforts to lower prices at grocery stores, begin projects on affordable housing, restore an expanded tax credit for parents and lower the cost of prescription drugs. She will call on congress to implement a tax incentive to build starter homes, seek to cap the cost of insulin at $35 for all Americans and attempt to reduce the cost of health insurance through the Affordable Care Act. Some of these details were released in a statement from her campaign, though it did not make any mention of how the Harris team plans to pay for her spending cut proposals. A breakdown of some key details are below. 

Grocery Prices

Vice President Harris’s campaign said that she would assist Congress in passing a national ban on “price gouging” for food and groceries, as well as give the Federal Trade Commission and prosecutors authority to go after companies after they determine the price gouge. She also would like to take a look at mergers between big grocery companies and look into price fixing in particular industries. 

Housing Costs

Harris also wants to provide $25,000 in down payment assistance for first-time home buyers and will strive to create three million new housing units within the time of her presidency. She has also proposed a tax credit for developers who build starter homes and investing $40 million in an innovation fund to tackle the housing crisis. 

Rental Costs

Part of her affordable housing push is to also expand a tax credit for housing developers who build affordable housing rental units. She would work alongside Congress to pass legislation that would work to stop predatory investing. She said she will work to stop companies who buy rental homes and collude with each other to raise rental prices. 

Child Tax Credit 

The child tax credit has long been a priority of Democrats and Vice President Harris has proposed giving families a $6,000 tax credit for newborns in their first year of life. She has also proposed resting the pandemic era tax credit of $3,600 per child for middle and lower class families. 

Tax

Other tax provisions she has vowed to address are Earned Income Tax Credit which would cut taxes by up to $1,250 for workers in lower-income jobs. She also said she would continue President Biden’s promise not to raise taxes on American households earning $400,000 or less annually. According to a New York Times article, she does not support raising taxes for high earners and corporations. Harris has also begun emphasizing a new tax policy, no tax on tips, which President Trump has also identified as one of his tax priorities. 

Prescription Drug Prices and Healthcare

Coming off a big announcement from the Biden Administration announcing reduced drug pricing, the Harris campaign also announced her intention to work with states to cancel medical debt. The campaign also proposed expanding subsidies for the Affordable Care Act that would save customers approximately $700 on their health insurance premiums. The campaign also proposed setting a $35 cap on insulin as well as capping out of pocket expenses on prescription drugs at $2,000 per year. 

Minimum Wage

Earlier on in her campaign visits, she announced that she will be working to raise minimum wage, more details on her plan for this are forthcoming. 

Fed Independence

Following President Trump’s statement that the president should have a say on the Federal Reserve's decision, Vice President Harris said that she would maintain the Fed’s independence. 

Overall, Harris' economic policies are largely in line with the Biden Administration’s economic platform. However a notable shift is her focus on pro-family spending as opposed to Biden’s emphasis on job creation and manufacturing policies. When asked yesterday if it would upset Biden should Vice President Harris begin to distance herself from some of his economic policies, he responded “she's not going to.”