Politics and Current
Kamala Harris proposes a series of new economic policies
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris has unveiled a series of new economic proposals specializing in food prices, taxes, housing and health care costs that she says will bolster the center class.
The plans represent the primary major policy proposals Harris has made in nearly 4 weeks since President Joe Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed his vp.
Let’s take a take a look at Harris’ proposals:
Food prices
After years of polling that showed Americans apprehensive about inflation, Harris is moving to rein in prices where they’ve often been felt most: at grocery stores. She has promised to send Congress proposals inside her first 100 days in office to limit federal price increases for food manufacturers and grocery stores. Harris can also be searching for new authority for the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general across the country to impose stiffer penalties on violators. She also wants to make use of government regulators to crack down on mergers and acquisitions of large food corporations that the vp says have contributed to higher prices.
Apartments
Harris is asking for 3 million new housing units over 4 years, which he says would alleviate “a serious housing shortage in America.” He also plans to advertise laws that will create a new round of tax incentives for builders who construct “starter” homes sold to first-time homebuyers.
She also wants a $40 billion innovation fund — doubling a similar pool of money created by the Biden administration — for corporations that construct inexpensive rental housing. Harris also desires to speed up permitting and review processes to get housing stock to market faster.
Harris goes on to say she could lower rental costs by limiting investors who buy homes in bulk, in addition to by restricting the use of pricing tools that she says encourage collusion to extend profits amongst landlords. She also desires to expand the Biden administration’s plan, which would supply $25,000 in potential down payment assistance to assist some renters buy a home, to a much larger group of first-time homebuyers nationwide.
The vp also backed rezoning some federal land for new, inexpensive housing, an idea Biden supported when he was running for president and one Trump has also spoken positively about.
Taxes and medical costs
Harris desires to speed up Biden administration motion that has allowed Medicare and other federal programs to barter with drugmakers to lower prescription drug costs, with the goal of cutting prices for some of the most costly and widely used drugs by about 40% to 80% starting in 2026. She also promised to advertise competition through steps to make pharmaceutical corporations’ pricing practices more transparent.
Harris also pledged to work with government entities to forgive $7 billion in medical debt for as much as 3 million eligible Americans.
The vp also proposed making the $3,600 child tax credit everlasting through 2025 for eligible families, while also offering a new $6,000 tax credit for those with a newborn. She says the Harris administration will work to expand the Earned Income Tax Credit to lower taxes for some frontline staff by as much as $1,500 and reduce taxes on health plans offered on the marketplace created by the Affordable Care Act.