Vice President Kamala Harris boards Air Force Two at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, on September 4, 2024.
Erin Sharp | The New York Times | Via Reuters
Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday proposed a 28% tax on long-term capital gains for households earning more than $1 million a year, lower than the 39.6% rate proposed by President Joe Biden. Budget for fiscal year 2025.
“We will tax capital gains at a rate that rewards investment in America’s innovators, entrepreneurs and small businesses,” the Democratic presidential candidate said at a rally in Northampton, New Hampshire. The Wall Street Journal first reported Harris’s capital gains tax plan.
Long-term capital gains, or assets held for more than one year, are currently taxed at a maximum rate of 20%.
Harris’s announcement marks a rare departure from Biden’s economic policies.
The newly elected Democratic presidential candidate has so far largely aligned his economic policy proposals with those of his incumbent boss.
Harris has largely embraced the president’s aggressive rhetoric toward big business and has previously supported tax increases in the president’s proposed budget as a way to fund his spending plans.
But the campaign, which pressured some companies, including those within the Democratic Party, also met with backlash.
“I don’t think a lump-sum tax on unrealized gains is a good thing,” Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, said Wednesday in an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
Cana’s comments referred to taxing potential gains that accumulate before assets are sold, which Biden supports. Harris has not announced plans to deviate from Biden’s proposal to tax unrealized gains for households worth at least $100 million.
Kana noted that startup entrepreneurs can experience unexpected outcomes that can hinder their business growth.
In recent weeks, Harris has tried to position herself as both a business-friendly figure and a champion of middle-class interests and a fighter against corporate greed.
As Harris laid out her stance on the economy, her Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump, criticized her performance and portrayed himself as the best candidate for the American economy.
“Trump cash vs. Kamala crash. When she comes in, there’s going to be a 1929 crash. It’s not going to be pretty,” Trump said in a video posted by the company. True Social At Harris’ New Hampshire rally on Wednesday.
Harris has responded to those attacks by proposing more initiatives aimed at helping businesses, especially ahead of her Sept. 10 debate with Trump, hosted by ABC News.
Harris unveiled a new proposal on Wednesday that would give small businesses a $50,000 tax credit for startup costs, 10 times the current level.
