This is what a Kamala Harris administration may imply in your pockets

US Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a moderated dialog with former Trump administration nationwide safety official Olivia Troye and former Republican voter Amanda Stratton on July 17, 2024 in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Chris Dumond | Getty Photographs Information | Getty Photographs

Taxes

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

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

Broadly speaking, it seems like Harris would be “largely on board” with most, if not all, of what Biden and his administration have been promoting, “especially in the big picture,” said Garrett Watson, senior policy analyst and modeling manager at the Tax Foundation.

Biden has called for higher taxes on wealthy Americans and corporations.

One big question is whether Harris will stick with Biden’s pledge not to raise taxes on those making less than $400,000, Watson said.

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

However, Harris voiced some distinctions from Biden before becoming vice president, Watson noted.

During her 2020 presidential campaign, Harris called for a repeal of the TCJA’s corporate tax rate, which dropped the top levy from 35% to 21%. Her repeal would have reverted the top rate back to 35%. By comparison, Biden has called for raising the corporate rate to 28% in 2024.

— Kate Dore

Health care

During Harris’s 2020 presidential bid, she backed a “Medicare for All” plan to expand health-care access and lower consumer costs. She described health care as a “right,” not a “privilege.”

Under that proposal, all Americans would transition to a Medicare health plan — either public or offered by a private insurer — over a 10-year period.

If chosen as the nominee, Harris is unlikely to push that plan in the current presidential contest, said Drew Altman, president and chief executive of KFF, a nonprofit health policy research organization. That’s because Democrats seem to have coalesced around Biden’s “kitchen table” proposals to reduce health costs, he said.

For example, in 2022, Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act, which extended enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies, making ACA health plans more affordable for millions of households; those subsidies last through 2025. It also capped insulin co-pays at $35 a month for Medicare beneficiaries.

Harris would likely seek expansions of health coverage under the ACA and Medicaid, Altman said. She’d likely try to expand negotiations over prescription-drug prices, which currently apply only to Medicare beneficiaries and some medications, he said.

Harris' business and economic policies are likely to mirror President Biden's, says DCLA's Sethi

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

Abortion is an economic issue, Altman said.

Women must generally weigh affordability and career advancement when choosing to have children, he said. Women in states that have enacted abortion bans — following the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade — have missed work and paid to travel out of state for the procedure.

— Greg Iacurci

Student loans

Harris has helped promote Biden’s historic policies to forgive the debt of student loan borrowers, and would likely continue the president’s efforts, experts said.

However, as a candidate in the 2020 race, Harris put forward a debt relief program that was criticized for being overly complicated and narrow. To be eligible, borrowers needed to receive a Pell Grant and open a business in a disadvantaged community, among other requirements.

In contrast, Biden has favored more broad debt cancellation, advancing 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. The vice president plans to bring more relief to borrowers, he said.

Current U.S. Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona wrote that he was “All in!” for Harris in a post on X Sunday night.

KALAMAZOO, Michigan – JULY 17: US Vice President Kamala Harris makes remarks earlier than a moderated dialog with former Trump administration nationwide safety official Olivia Troye and former Republican voter Amanda Stratton on July 17, 2024 in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Harris’ go to, following the tried assassination of former President Trump, makes this her fourth journey to Michigan this yr and seventh go to since taking workplace. (Picture by Chris duMond/Getty Photographs)

Chris Dumond | Getty Photographs Information | Getty Photographs

Harris has additionally taken on predatory faculties and fought for reduction for debtors.

Because the lawyer basic in California, Harris investigated and sued Corinthian Faculties, and obtained a $1.1 billion judgment in opposition to the now-defunct for-profit conglomerate. The U.S. Division of Educated ended up trying into the colleges, and in 2022 forgave $5.8 billion in scholar debt for 560,000 former Corinthian college students.

— Annie Nova