WASHINGTON — Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris released her first detailed economic policy proposal Friday, outlining how she would ease rent hikes, boost first-time homebuyers, end grocery price gouging and strengthen the child tax credit.
The Harris campaign said the proposals, most of which would require congressional approval, “will address some of the most serious problems facing American families and strengthen their financial security.”
“Vice President Harris has made clear that building the middle class will be a defining goal of her presidency,” the statement said. “She will deliver on the expectations of Americans who are demanding a new way forward for a future that lifts all Americans so they can not only survive, but thrive.”
Harris will be campaigning on Friday in Raleigh, North Carolina, ahead of the Democratic National Convention that begins Monday, as both campaigns focus on several key states.
The economic thrust of her plan aims to curb expenses that often come with raising a family by expanding the child tax credit to $3,600 per child that was in effect under the COVID-19 spending bill that Democrats approved in the early months of the Biden administration. That provision has since expired.
Harris proposes increasing this credit to $6,000 for families with children under a year venerable.
The maximum child tax credit is currently $2,000 for each qualifying child for an individual earning less than $200,000 a year or a couple filing jointly earning less than $400,000 a year.
There are several qualifications to receive the child tax credit, provided the child is under 17 years venerable at the end of the year and is a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, or U.S. resident alien.
According to the announcement, the Earned Income Tax Credit, or EITC, will be expanded “to cover lower-income individuals and couples who do not raise children at home, reducing their taxes by up to $1,500.”
Harris also promised that anyone earning less than $400,000 a year would not see a modern tax raise, consistent with a promise made by President Joe Biden while he was in the Oval Office.
Increases in food prices
The proposal states that if elected, Harris will seek to pass legislation through Congress to prohibit price gouging on groceries and other food products, as well as establish “rules of the road” that prevent companies from “excessively profiting from the sale of food and other food products.”
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Rising grocery prices are a major concern for consumers, and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Thursday presented the case that prices are too high for American families, blaming inflation on the Biden-Harris administration and claiming he is the only person who can lower prices.
To implement her plan to jack up grocery prices, Harris proposes giving the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general modern powers to “impose severe penalties” on companies that overprice.
“Many large grocery chains, where input costs have stabilized, have nonetheless maintained high prices and posted their highest profits in two decades,” the proposal states. “While some grocery companies have passed on these savings, others have yet to do so.”
“Price fluctuations are normal in a free market, but Vice President Harris recognizes there is a big difference between fair prices and the exorbitant, non-cost-of-doing-business prices that Americans see in the grocery industry,” the document reads.
Under Harris’ plan, the Harris administration will also address “unfair mergers and acquisitions” that could contribute to higher food and grocery prices.
Expanding drug price controls
Harris hopes to raise the insulin price cap that Democrats set in their signature climate change, health care and tax package known as the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
That part of the Act that deals exclusively with the Medicare program, limits the price of insulin $35 per month. Harris’ proposal would extend that amount to “everyone,” while setting the maximum out-of-pocket cost for other prescriptions at $2,000.
The plan would raise the speed at which Medicare can negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies.
“Vice President Harris and Governor Walz will also work with states to cancel medical debt for millions of Americans and help them avoid accumulating such debt in the future because no one should have to file bankruptcy just because they had the misfortune of getting sick or injured,” the proposal says.
Supporting housing construction
The economic plan released Friday includes numerous changes that could ease the rising costs of renting and buying a home for the first time.
Harris would like to raise housing construction nationwide by 3 million units over the next four years by removing “barriers to new housing construction, including at the state and local level.”
The Harris-Walz administration would call on Congress to create a tax incentive for builders that build “starter homes” that would then be sold to first-time home buyers.
The announcement says the modern tax incentive “will complement the Neighborhood Homes Tax Credit, which encourages investment in homes that would otherwise be too expensive or difficult to build or renovate.”
Harris’ proposal would provide up to $25,000 in down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers who have paid their rent on time for at least two years.
If the proposal is implemented, financial assistance in the form of an advance payment will reach more than 4 million people over four years.
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Harris also pushed lawmakers to address rising rent costs, approving two bills that were introduced in Congress but failed to gain any support.
One Bill would reduce the incentive for huge companies to buy more than 50 single-family homes to rent. The bill would prohibit those companies from “deducting interest or depreciation on those properties,” according to abstract middle.
The second lease proposal calls on Congress to approve Bill “which would put a stop to companies that help landlords raise rents in markets where prices are already high,” he says abstract.
“Vice President Harris knows that our nation’s housing affordability crisis is making it difficult for tens of millions of Americans to make ends meet while preventing far too many working families from realizing the American dream of homeownership,” the proposal reads. “That’s why she will launch an urgent and comprehensive four-year plan to lower housing costs for working families and end America’s housing shortage.”
On Sunday, just before the Democratic National Convention, the Harris-Walz campaign is hosting a bus tour of Pittsburgh and the surrounding area.
Harris; her vice presidential running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz; Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff; and Minnesota First Lady Gwen Walz will join the tour in Allegheny and Beaver counties.
