The Blubber

Vice President Kamala Harris has vowed not to raise taxes on anyone earning less than $400,000 a year if she is elected in November, her campaign informed POLITICO on Friday.

This pledge continues a key promise made by President Joe Biden, who emphasized that corporations and the wealthy should bear a larger share of the tax burden. It also suggests that Harris is unlikely to support more progressive policies, such as significantly expanding Social Security benefits, which would require tax increases for a broader segment of Americans.

Biden used this tax promise to appeal to working-class voters during his campaign. Now, as Harris develops her own economic platform—potentially diverging from Biden on certain issues, especially given his low approval ratings on economic matters—she intends to maintain this core commitment.

“We believe in a future where every person has the opportunity not just to get by but to get ahead,” Harris stated at a campaign rally in Wisconsin earlier this week. “Building up the middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency.”

This pledge comes as Democrats aim to highlight tax issues as a key difference from former President Donald Trump, who enacted a significant tax cut package during his first term and has advocated for further reducing the corporate tax rate.

The 2017 tax law was unpopular at the time, and with key parts of that package set to expire next year, Harris has echoed Biden’s rhetoric, positioning herself as a defender of the middle class while criticizing Trump for supporting policies that favor the wealthy.

“He intends to give tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations and make working families foot the bill,” Harris said on Thursday at an American Federation of Teachers convention in Houston. “America has tried these failed economic policies, but we are not going back.”

Harris has yet to detail her economic platform since becoming the likely Democratic nominee, and she is expected to adopt much of Biden’s broader agenda in the short campaign period leading up to Election Day. Throughout his term, Biden focused on policies aimed at bolstering the working class, including expanding safety net programs and reducing healthcare costs.

Despite these efforts, Biden struggled to win over voters who blamed his policies for rising prices and were skeptical of his handling of the post-COVID recovery. However, early polling suggests Harris may not face the same level of opposition in her presidential run. A poll from the Democratic firm Blueprint earlier this week showed Harris either leading or tied with Trump on several economic issues. On the matter of “fair taxes,” Harris was tied with Trump. Forty percent of respondents said Harris shares responsibility for Biden’s pledge to raise taxes on the wealthy, a popular element of Biden’s platform according to prior polling.

During her unsuccessful 2020 presidential run, Harris supported several economic proposals that went beyond Biden’s current agenda, including raising the corporate tax rate to 35 percent. Biden has proposed increasing the corporate tax rate to 28 percent from the current 21 percent. At the time, she also suggested taxing certain stock trades and other financial transactions.