Here's What Kamala Harris' Management Might Mean for Your Wallet

With trillions of dollars in tax breaks set to expire after 2025, taxes and the federal budget deficit will be key issues Harris will have to address as part of her platform, experts say.

Without action from Congress, dozens of provisions in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will expire, including lower federal income brackets, a larger standard deduction and a more generous child tax credit, among other changes. That could mean higher taxes for more than 60% of tax filers, according to the Tax Foundation.

Overall, Harris appears to be “pretty much on board” with most, if not all, of what Biden and his administration have been promoting, “especially in the big picture,” said Garrett Watson, a senior policy analyst and director of modeling at the Tax Foundation.

Biden called for higher taxes on wealthy Americans and corporations.

The big question, Watson said, is whether Harris will follow through on Biden's pledge not to raise taxes on those making less than $400,000.

Last week, Harris also praised the administration's expansion of the child tax credit during the pandemic at a political event in North Carolina, which has been a priority for Biden and Democrats.

However, Watson noted that Harris had expressed some differences from Biden before becoming vice president.

During her 2020 presidential campaign, Harris called for eliminating the corporate tax rate under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which lowered the top tax rate from 35% to 21%. Repealing it would have returned the top rate to 35%. By comparison, Biden has called for raising the corporate rate to 28% in 2024.

— Kate Dorey

During her 2020 presidential campaign, Harris supported the “Medicare for All” plan to expand access to health care and lower consumer costs. She described health care as a “right” rather than a “privilege.”

Under the proposal, all Americans would move to Medicare — whether public or offered by a private insurer — over a 10-year period.

If Harris is nominated, she is unlikely to push the plan in the current presidential race, said Drew Altman, chairman and CEO of KFF, a nonprofit health policy research organization. That’s because Democrats appear to have coalesced around Biden’s “kitchen-room” proposals to cut health care costs, he said.

For example, in 2022, Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act, which extended enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies, making health care plans under the act more affordable for millions of families; those subsidies last through 2025. The law also capped insulin co-payments at $35 per month for Medicare beneficiaries.

Altman said Harris would likely seek to expand health coverage under the Affordable Care Act and Medicare. She would likely try to expand negotiations on prescription drug prices, which currently apply only to Medicare beneficiaries and some medications, he added.

Additionally, abortion is likely to be the “decisive issue” of the 2024 election, according to Fatima Goss Graves, president of the National Women’s Law Center Action Fund. Harris is among the Democrats’ “strongest and most effective voices” on protecting abortion access, she said.

Abortion is an economic issue, Altman said.

Women generally have to weigh affordability and career advancement when choosing to have children, he said. Women in states that have banned abortions — following the 2022 Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade — have missed work and paid to travel out of state for the procedure.

— Greg Yakoursi

Harris helped promote Biden's landmark policies to forgive student loan debt, and is likely to continue the president's efforts, experts said.

However, as a candidate in the 2020 race, Harris introduced a debt relief program that was criticized for being overly complex and narrow. To qualify, borrowers had to receive a Pell Grant and open a business in a disadvantaged community, among other requirements.

In contrast, Biden has favored broader debt cancellation, and has advanced plans that would reduce or eliminate the balances of tens of millions of Americans.

A White House spokesperson recently told CNBC that Harris is proud of her and Biden’s work to forgive $167 billion in student debt for nearly 5 million Americans so far, and said the vice president plans to provide more relief to borrowers.

Current U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona wrote that he was “fully supportive” of Harris in a post on Twitter on Sunday evening.

Harris also took on predatory schools and fought for loan relief.

As California attorney general, Harris investigated and sued Corinthian College, winning a $1.1 billion judgment against the now-defunct for-profit conglomerate. The U.S. Department of Education eventually investigated the schools, and in 2022 forgave $5.8 billion in student debt for 560,000 former Corinthian students.

—Annie Nova

Before she became vice president, one of Harris’s signature proposals — known as the Lift the Middle Class Act — would have provided an annual tax credit of up to $6,000 to low- and middle-income workers, on top of the benefits they already receive, to help close the wealth gap. Harris has proposed repealing Trump’s tax cuts to pay for it.

Since then, the cost of living has risen dramatically, hitting working-class Americans particularly hard, says Laura Feldkamp, ​​a professor of finance and economics at Columbia Business School.

In this context, Feldkamp said that “there is a good case” for reintroducing the tax credit for those whose income is below a certain threshold.

— Jessica Dickler

Harris was a supporter of affordable housing policies while serving as vice president and senator.

“Every American deserves affordable housing,” Harris posted on X on July 16, referring to the Biden administration’s call to cap rent increases at 5% for landlords with 50 or more rental units or risk losing federal tax credits.

Most recently, Harris announced the recipients of an $85 million grant under Pathways to Housing, a first-of-its-kind project aimed at lowering housing and rental costs for families.

In May, Harris also announced a $5.5 billion budget to promote affordable housing, invest in economic growth, build wealth, and address homelessness in the United States through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The money will go to six different HUD programs.

— Anna Teresa Sola

Harris has targeted the gender pay gap with a plan to eliminate discriminatory pay practices and punish companies that do not comply.

Under a plan unveiled in 2019, companies with 100 or more employees will be required to report total pay and compensation for men and women, as well as the proportion of women in leadership positions, to obtain an “equal pay certificate.” Companies that fail to obtain the certificate will be fined 1% of their average daily profits over the previous fiscal year.

Women earn just 84 cents for every dollar men earn, according to an analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data by the National Women's Law Center, though the wage gap is significantly worse for black and Latina women.

Rethinking efforts to require companies to disclose pay data could be helpful, said Veldkamp of Columbia University.

“Different forces drive inequality, and taking it beyond the numbers may highlight problems you may want to address,” she said.

— Jessica Dickler