Vice President Kamala Harris has introduced a proposal to increase the corporate tax rate to 28%, marking her first significant step toward raising revenue for the ambitious plans she intends to pursue as president.
James Singer, a spokesperson for Harris’s campaign, stated in an interview with NBC News that Harris supports raising the corporate tax rate to 28%. He emphasized that this approach is “a fiscally responsible method to return money to working-class Americans while ensuring that billionaires and large corporations contribute their fair share.”
In a written statement, Singer added, “As president, Kamala Harris will prioritize building an economy of opportunity for the middle class that enhances their economic security, stability, and dignity.”
During a rally in North Carolina, Harris outlined her economic vision, and if implemented, this tax increase could generate hundreds of billions of dollars. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that for each percentage point increase in the corporate tax rate, around $100 billion could be raised over a decade. This proposal would reverse a substantial portion of former President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax reform, which reduced the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%.
In contrast, Trump has recently pledged to further cut taxes, including for businesses, if he regains the presidency.
This announcement comes as Harris begins to detail her policy agenda during the week of the Democratic convention. She aims to address concerns about how she plans to fund initiatives such as expanding the child tax credit and reducing housing and medical debt costs. However, Harris has yet to provide a full cost estimate for her proposals or specify how they will be funded.
Notably, the 28% corporate tax rate Harris is now proposing is lower than what she suggested during her 2020 presidential bid, where she advocated for a full repeal of Trump’s tax cuts, which would have restored the corporate tax rate to 35%. Her current position aligns more closely with President Joe Biden’s latest budget proposal.
