Harris unveils plan to curb price gouging, increase child tax credit and combat rent hikes • Wisconsin Examiner

WASHINGTON – Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris unveiled her first detailed economic policy proposal on Friday, outlining how she would mitigate rent increases, increase the number of first-time home buyers, end price gouging in grocery stores and increase the child tax credit.

The Harris campaign statement said the proposals, most of which require congressional approval, would “address some of the biggest problems facing American families and strengthen their financial security.”

“Vice President Harris has made clear that building the middle class will be a critical goal of her presidency,” the announcement said. “She will deliver for Americans who demand a new path to a future that works for all Americans, so they can not just get by, but get ahead.”

Harris campaigned in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Friday ahead of the Democratic National Convention that begins Monday, with both campaigns focusing on a handful of swing states.

The economic core of their plan aims to reduce the expenses often associated with starting a family by increasing the child tax credit to the $3,600 per child that existed under the COVID-19 spending bill that Democrats passed in the first months of the Biden administration, a provision that has since expired.

Harris proposes increasing this credit to $6,000 for families with children under one year of age.

The maximum child tax credit is currently $2,000 per qualifying child for an individual with annual income of less than $200,000 or for a couple filing jointly with income of less than $400,000.

To qualify for a child tax credit, several requirements must be met. Among other things, the child must be under 17 years old at the end of the year and be a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, or U.S. resident alien.

The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) will be expanded “to cover lower-income individuals and couples who are not raising a child at home, providing them with a tax relief of up to $1,500,” the announcement said.

Harris also promised that no one earning less than $400,000 a year would face a tax increase, echoing a promise President Joe Biden has made throughout his time in the Oval Office.

Extortionate prices in the food trade

The proposal states that if elected, Harris will work to pass legislation in Congress banning price gouging on food and other food products and establishing “rules of the road” to prevent companies from making “excessive profits on food and food products.”

Rising food prices are a major point of criticism for consumers. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump argued on Thursday that prices are too high for American families. He blamed the Biden-Harris administration for inflation and insisted that he was the only one who could bring prices down again.

To implement her plan to combat profiteering in the grocery trade, Harris proposes giving the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general new powers to “impose tough new penalties” on companies that charge extortionate prices.

“Many large grocery chains have kept their prices high despite stable production costs and achieved their highest profits in two decades,” the proposal states. “While some grocery companies have passed on these savings, others have not yet done so.”

“Price fluctuations are normal in free markets, but Vice President Harris recognizes that there is a big difference between fair prices and the inflated, cost-insensitive prices that Americans have experienced in the food and grocery industry,” it said.

A Harris administration would also address “unfair mergers and acquisitions” that could contribute to higher food and grocery prices, Harris’ plan says.

Expansion of drug price controls

Harris hopes to extend the price cap on insulin that Democrats set in their main climate, health and tax package, the so-called Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

That section of the law, which applies only to Medicare, caps the price of insulin at $35 per month. Harris’ proposal would extend that amount to “everyone” while setting the maximum out-of-pocket costs for other drugs at $2,000.

The plan would increase 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 the medical debt of millions of Americans and help them avoid such debt in the future. Because no one should have to go bankrupt just because they were unlucky enough to get sick or injured,” the proposal states.

Promote housing construction

The economic plan published on Friday includes numerous changes that could mitigate the rising costs of renting and buying a home for the first time.

Harris wants to boost housing construction across the country by three million units over the next four years by “removing barriers to new housing construction, including at the state and local levels.”

A Harris-Waltz administration would ask Congress to create tax incentives for builders that build “starter homes” that are then sold to first-time buyers.

The announcement states that the new tax incentive would “complement the Neighborhood Homes Tax Credit, which encourages investments in homes that would otherwise be too expensive or difficult to build or rehabilitate.”

Harris’ proposal would provide a down payment of up to $25,000 for first-time homebuyers who have paid their rent on time for at least two years.

The proposal states that, if implemented, financial support in the form of an advance payment would benefit more than four million people over a period of four years.

Harris also urged lawmakers to address rising rents by approving two bills that had been introduced in Congress but had so far failed to gain traction.

A bill would reduce the incentive for large companies to buy more than 50 single-family homes to rent. The legislation would prohibit these companies from “deducting interest or depreciation on these properties,” according to a summary of the measure.

The second rent proposal calls on Congress to approve a bill that would “crack down on companies that help landlords raise rents in already expensive markets,” a summary says.

“Vice President Harris knows that our nation’s housing crisis is making it difficult for millions of Americans to make ends meet, while the American dream of homeownership remains out of reach for too many working families,” the proposal states. “That’s why she will urgently launch a comprehensive four-year plan to lower housing costs for working families and end America’s housing shortage.”

The Harris-Walz team also announced on Friday that the candidates would host a bus tour of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and the surrounding area on Sunday, just before the Democratic National Convention.

Harris, her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff and Minnesota First Lady Gwen Walz will all take part in the tour of Allegheny and Beaver counties.

Trump’s campaign team reacts

Representatives of Trump’s campaign team spoke to reporters on the phone on Friday afternoon to criticize many of the policy proposals in Harris’ economic plan. However, they declined to comment directly on a possible increase in the child tax credit.

“We’re going to have a number of other policy discussions about the economy. I think you’ve seen President Trump himself speak directly about his policies in some public events and press events over the last few days,” said Brian Hughes, senior communications adviser to the Trump campaign. “I think today we’re going to focus on the rest of the discussion about Harris’ extremely liberal agenda.”

Campaign staff did not want to answer a separate question on the conference call about how Trump’s planned tariffs on certain products would affect the US economy and prices.

Kevin Hassett, a former senior adviser and chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers during the Trump administration, said the purpose of Friday’s call was to focus on the Harris campaign’s proposals.

“I’m sure the campaign would love to organize a future call on tariffs and President Trump’s agenda,” Hassett said. “But, you know, we were instructed to focus on Kamala’s proposals today. And it seems to me that Kamala’s supporters probably don’t want to talk about her proposals.”

Hassett said Harris’ economic proposals fall into one of two categories. The first, he said, are measures Trump has already proposed, while the second category includes policies that “make no sense at all.”

Stephen Moore, Trump’s policy adviser, said proposals to limit price spikes on food and groceries could force some stores to close, potentially leading to increased food shortages.

He argued that the proposal to allow first-time home buyers up to $25,000 as a down payment would not solve the main problem that keeps people from buying homes, namely high interest rates.

“If you were to cut taxes, deregulate the economy, and produce more energy – all of those measures would be deflationary, not inflationary,” Moore said. “And those are the measures that would bring inflation back down to the 1.5 to 2 percent that we had under Donald J. Trump.”

To prevent the country’s economy from collapsing, the Federal Reserve began cutting interest rates during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Fed has kept interest rates higher than usual to curb inflation, which has surged as pandemic restrictions were eased following a widespread vaccination campaign.