Harris Proposes Major Tax Break for Startups in Presidential Campaign Push
1min read According to campaign officials, Democratic candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris is set to announce a new proposal on Wednesday that would offer small businesses a tax deduction of $50,000 for startup costs, ten times the current allowance of $5,000.
As the official suggests, Harris will introduce the new plan on Wednesday during her presidential campaign event in New Hampshire, as part of her broader efforts in the final two months of the sprint phase.
Under the proposal, newly established small businesses could spread the tax deduction over several years, or they could defer applying for the $50,000 tax deduction until the company becomes profitable. The Harris campaign team did not respond to requests about which startups and small businesses would be eligible for the tax deduction.
However, it is worth noting that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has previously encountered problems in ensuring that small business tax relief policies were ultimately used correctly, especially during the pandemic when the agency found a surge in fraudulent claims.
In addition, the official revealed that Harris will also set a goal on Wednesday: to collect applications for 25 million new small businesses during her first term if she is elected president. This would be 6 million more than the record of the Biden administration to date.
This new plan provides ammunition for Harris ahead of the Hartford Debate on September 10. Trump has long positioned himself as the more business-friendly candidate while attacking Harris's economic record. By focusing on small businesses, Harris's tax cut proposal could help her balance countering Trump's attacks and continuing her political campaign against corporate greed.
Since President Biden withdrew from the race on July 21, making Harris the Democratic presidential candidate, her campaign team has been rapidly establishing the Vice President's economic platform.
As voters have consistently listed high living costs as their top election issue, Harris's policy proposals to date have focused on the affordability of housing, groceries, prescription drugs, childcare, and healthcare. She has emphasized the federal government's ban on so-called price gouging in the food industry, implying that high food prices are the result of food grocery companies artificially inflating prices.
This proposal has been strongly opposed by the business community and some economists. Meanwhile, Trump has long marketed himself as a friendly face for big businesses. In his third run for president, Trump proposed to make permanent the tax cuts from his first term, including lowering corporate tax rates.