Vice President Kamala Harris has not spoken publicly about her reported embrace of President Joe Biden’s $5 trillion tax plan, which includes the controversial measure of taxing the unrealized capital gains of the nation's wealthiest .
With no fanfare or announcement, the Harris campaign signaled that she supports the proposed tax increases that were part of Biden’s 2025 budget proposal this week. The ambitious tax increases, if passed, would mark a major change in U.S. tax policy, but Harris, whom Republicans have worked to tie to the more unpopular Biden, has not discussed the tax agenda.
Her campaign confirmed to the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday that Harris supports the tax increases in the 2025 budget put forward in his recent budget proposal. A campaign spokesman also recently told pool reporters that she supports the tax increases in Biden's budget "that ensure billionaires and big corporations pay their fair share."
Otherwise, though, neither Harris nor her campaign has said anything about the proposal, creating an unusual situation in which the candidate has allowed herself to be associated with a set of policies that would have significant ramifications for the country and yet has not discussed it in any substantive way.
The Washington Examiner asked several Harris campaign aides for confirmation that she supports Biden’s plan to tax the unrealized capital gains of high earners and the tranche of other tax proposals but never got responses. Harris's campaign website makes no reference to the tax plan or any other policy proposal. Harris herself has not mentioned it.
One of the most ambitious of the tax increases in Biden’s budget would tax the unrealized capital gains of those with wealth in excess of $100 million, which is a group that is small in number but significant in terms of overall investment. The plan, first outlined in 2023, would impose a 25% minimum tax on the total income of those with assets greater than $100 million.
Taxing the unrealized capital gains of billionaires is a popular proposal among the liberal-left flank of the Democratic Party, who see it as a way to make the tax code more progressive while also paying for other spending items and tax cuts for the middle class. Opponents see it as a complicated and impractical policy change that could hurt investment and economic growth.
The policy, if it actually became law, would mark a huge change from the current tax regime because gains would be taxed even if not realized. Under the existing tax code, billionaires and the very wealthy whose investments increase in value are taxed on that growth, known as capital gains, when those investments are finally sold off.
The political reality though is that even if Harris wins and Democrats are able to sweep the House and Senate, passing a tax on the unrealized capital gains of the wealthy would be exceedingly difficult, in part because not all Democrats are on board with such a move.
Alex Conant, a GOP strategist and partner at Firehouse Strategies, told the Washington Examiner he thinks that if a wealth tax were actually a popular policy, it would have been made into law years ago. He said there are economic reasons not to pursue such a big change in tax policy.
Additionally, he said it would “spark a tsunami of opposition,” even from some Democrats, and that the campaign is underestimating how many people would oppose such a change.
“It would create so many losers that it would make a lot of Democrats uncomfortable,” Conant said.
Another major Biden-budget tax item that Harris endorsed is raising the corporate tax rate to 28% from the 21% it was lowered to as part of the Trump tax cuts.
“As president, Kamala Harris will focus on creating an opportunity economy for the middle class that advances their economic security, stability, and dignity,” Harris campaign spokesman James Singer said.
Republicans and the Trump campaign have mocked Harris for being light on policy proposals. The Trump campaign created a mock policy website, KamalaPolicies2024.com, satirizing her.
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Still, in recent days, she has begun to reveal more policy proposals, including rolling out a plan to eliminate taxes on tips, pledging to fight what she describes as price gouging at grocery stores, and calling for new housing subsidies .
Harris is set to give the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday evening.
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