Yellen says Harris would keep Biden's vow against middle-class US tax hikes

By David Lawder

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) -U.S. Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris would adhere to President Joe Biden's vow against raising taxes on middle-income Americans and helped formulate Biden-Harris administration proposals to raise taxes on the wealthy and on corporations, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Tuesday.

But Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, a contender to be Harris' running mate in the November presidential election, touted his record of cutting taxes for businesses in the state.

At an Internal Revenue Service event in Philadelphia, Yellen said that Harris, if elected, would likely pursue a number of Biden's economic priorities, including support for child care, family leave and an expanded Child Tax Credit.

Asked whether Harris would adopt Biden's tax proposals, Yellen said: "Vice President Harris has indicated her support for avoiding tax increases for middle-income families. So I believe that's a principle that she would adhere to."

Yellen, however, declined to speculate on how Harris would approach negotiations in Congress in 2025, the year that Trump-era tax cuts expire.

Shapiro said that Pennsylvania cut taxes for businesses because it needed to have a more competitive environment to grow jobs and attract businesses. State corporate taxes are slated to decline to 4.99% by 2031 from 8.99% in 2023.

"We also understood that we need to have a more advantageous tax environment for our businesses, and it was one component of an overall strategy in order to grow jobs and create more economic opportunity in Pennsylvania," Shapiro said. "That's why I've been so aggressively working to cut business taxes and make sure that we have an environment here that works for business owners."

Yellen and Shapiro earlier announced that Pennsylvania will join the Internal Revenue Service's free direct filing system for simple tax returns next year, providing the option to as many as 1.5 million taxpayers in the state.

The move follows a successful pilot program during the 2024 tax filing season in 12 states after which the IRS announced that it would offer a permanent free filing system, funded in part by $60 billion in new modernization funding for the IRS over a decade - funding that Republicans have vowed to rescind.

Yellen said the pilot program attracted filings from 140,000 taxpayers - exceeding the 100,000 goal - who claimed more than $90 million in refunds and saved an estimated $5.6 million in fees that would have been charged by private tax preparers.

Shapiro survived the first cut of Harris' shortlist, as North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer dropped out of that selection process.

The Pennsylvania governor and former state attorney general is competing against Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, U.S. Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg.

In the past year, Yellen has held events with Beshear, Kelly, Cooper and Whitmer touting Biden-Harris economic policies, from clean energy tax credits to investments in semiconductors.

(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Andrea Ricci and Marguerita Choy)