In the swing state of North Carolina, Vice President Kamala Harris introduced her economic plan that she hopes will turn the tides with voters who don’t believe she has the economic chops over former President Trump.
“What we will do to bring down cost, increase security and stability financially of your family and expand opportunity for working and middle class Americans,” she said in her speech.
Her goal is to reduce the cost of living, and she plans on doing that by shepherding a series of tax credits and a crack down on price gouging.
RELATED STORY | Experts say no tax on tips will not benefit workers
She’s proposing to put a federal ban on price gouging on food items, give $25,000 in down payment assistance to some first-time homebuyers and tax incentives for builders to get more starter homes into the housing market, expand the child tax credit to up to $3,600 — and $6,000 for children in their first year of life and expand the earned income tax credit for lower income people without children.
Many of the proposals would need help from Congress to become a reality.
A Trump economic adviser told reporters that the Harris proposals were “a big mistake” and “a massive expansion of government control.”
An AP-Norc Center for Public Affairs Research poll finds that more Americans trust Trump on the economy than Harris, 45% to 38%.
Trump is also promising big tax cuts including no tax on tips for service workers, no social security taxes for seniors, and extending his 2017 tax cuts when they expire next year.
“The promises are many and the payment methods are, are slight. So who’s going to pay for it? All of us. Anyone, anyone who pays taxes, anyone who pays tariffs, and we’ll also pay in, in the way of having to borrow more money,” said Tom O’Saben from the National Association of Tax Professionals.
RELATED STORY | Harris mirrors Trump proposal to end federal taxes on tips
Whether it’s the tax credits either candidate is campaigning on, in the end, Americans are going to be the ones paying for the political promises of candidates, if they move from the stump speeches into policy.
“Most people in my profession would agree that taxes are probably as low as they’re ever going to be and to suggest to save even more taxes is going to balloon the deficit,” he said.
