What Would Kamala Harris’ Opportunity Economy Look Like?

Vice President Kamala Harris will face off against former President Donald Trump on November 5 and it’s clear that a major focus of the election will be on the economy and how the candidates’ proposals could impact personal finances.

What would an opportunity economy look like?

On Aug. 22, Harris formally accepted the nomination for president on Thursday at the Democratic National Convention. In her acceptance speech, she promised to create what she calls an “opportunity economy.”

She said, "Whether you live in a rural area, small town, or big city. And as president, I will bring together labor and workers and small-business owners and entrepreneurs and American companies to create jobs, to grow our economy and to lower the cost of everyday needs like health care and housing and groceries. We will provide access to capital for small-business owners and entrepreneurs and founders. And we will end America’s housing shortage, and protect Social Security and Medicare.”

Harris says her first 100 days would include a number of consumer-first policies. “Vice President Harris and Governor Walz will work with businesses, entrepreneurs, workers, and all stakeholders to drive an economy that creates opportunity and ensures stability and security for everyone,” the Harris campaign wrote in an Aug. 16 press release. Her other proposals include:

Lowering rental costs

• Expanding an existing tax incentive for building affordable rental housing.

• Calling on Congress to pass the Stop Predatory Investing Act, which would restrict major investors from receiving tax benefits for acquiring large numbers of single-family rental properties. 

• Calling on Congress to pass the Preventing the Algorithmic Facilitation of Rental Housing Cartels Act, which would prohibit corporate landlords from colluding to raise rents using price-fixing algorithms. 

Building housing and lowering homeownership costs

• Support construction of 3 million new housing units in the next four years. 

• Create a tax incentive for homebuilders to construct starter homes that are sold to first-time homebuyers. 

• Start a $40 billion “innovation fund”  for local governments to create local solutions to building housing. 

• Make certain federal lands eligible to be repurposed for new affordable housing developments. 

• Streamline permitting processes and reviews to create or convert new homes. 

• Provide, on average, $25,000 in down payment support for first-time homebuyers that would enable 4 million first-time home buyers to receive assistance over 4 years. 

Reducing prescription drug costs

• Put a cap on insulin costs at $35 and out-of-pocket expenses at $2,000 for all Americans. 

• Allow Medicare to negotiate the price of prescription drugs in order to cut costs for common prescriptions by 40% to 80%. Harris would also help speed up the process for making more affordable prescription drugs available for Medicare recipients. 

• Crack down on Big Pharma companies that raise costs for consumers by blocking competition.

Canceling medical debt

• Working with states to cancel medical debt — an action that the Harris campaign says would benefit millions of Americans. 

Banning price gouging to lower grocery prices

• Banning corporate food and grocery price gouging. The measure echoes a bill introduced on Feb. 26 by Sen. Elizabeth Warren called the Price Gouging Prevention Act of 2024. The bill applies a ban on price gouging for companies earning above $100 million annually in gross revenue unless the company can prove the additional costs are not within its control.

• The proposal would involve creating rules to prevent corporations from raising prices to run up “excessive profits” and enable the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys to impose penalties for breaking those rules.

Cutting taxes for families with children

• Restore the expanded Child Tax Credit that was created with the American Rescue Plan. It provides up to $3,600 per child tax credit for eligible middle income and low income families. 

• Enact a $6,000 child tax credit for middle income and low income families with newborns for the first year of a child’s life.

Giving tax breaks to small businesses

On Sept. 4 Vice President Kamala Harris proposed a new tax deduction and additional incentives intended to stimulate small business creation. The goal: 25 million new small business applications over four years.

The proposal includes a tenfold increase in federal tax incentives — from $5,000 to $50,000. The deduction would cover the typical costs to launch a new small business and would be available until the new business turns a profit. The tax incentive would likely require approval in Congress.

Expand the earned income tax credit

• Expand the Earned Income Tax credit, which is available to eligible low-to-moderate income workers; those with children receive a higher tax credit. Harris’ proposal would expand the credit for individuals and couples filing jointly who work lower-income jobs and don’t have children. The campaign estimates it could save filers up to $1,500.  

Cut taxes on affordable health insurance premiums

• Cut taxes on premiums on health insurance accessed through the Affordable Care Act Health Insurance Marketplace. The campaign estimated it could save consumers, on average, $700 per year.

Cover long-term care under Medicare

On Oct. 8, Harris promised to expand Medicare to cover at-home care for seniors and those with disabilities. She also pledged to provide vision and hearing benefits for seniors, also under Medicare. The new benefits would be funded by her plan to expand Medicare prescription drug price negotiations.

More promises

During a campaign speech in Pittsburgh on Sept. 25, Harris added some new pledges including:

• Investing in bio-manufacturing, aerospace, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, blockchain and clean energy — “from advanced batteries to geothermal to advanced nuclear.”  

• Invest in industrial towns through tax credits for “expanding good union jobs and steel and iron and manufacturing communities.”

• Permitting reform.

• Doubling the number of apprenticeships. 

In the speech, Harris promised to chart “a new way forward” for the economy, while emphasizing the difference between her approach and her opponents’. She said, “You see, for Donald Trump, our economy works best if it works for those who own the big skyscrapers, not those who actually build them, not those who wire them.”

Economic proposals in the DNC platform

In the DNC platform, the party emphasized key achievements of the Biden administration including the labor force comeback following the coronavirus pandemic, increased wages and slowing inflation. The following are proposals that relate to the economy or personal finances in the DNC’s 2024 election platform.

How has the Biden-Harris administration handled the economy?

Biden has a clear track record with his economic policies — the shorthand of which is “Bidenomics” — that Harris has supported over the past four years. That record is what Biden had been campaigning on before dropping out, and it’s likely that Harris will follow suit.

The key pillars of the Biden-Harris administration’s economic vision, as outlined in a 2023 White House statement, include:

• “Making smart public investments in America” that attract more private sector investment, including the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA); the CHIPS and Science Act; as well as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.  

• “Empowering and educating workers to grow the middle class” through moves like forgiving student debt for qualifying borrowers; supporting unionization and collective bargaining and investing in registered apprenticeships. Under the Biden-Harris administration, the U.S. has seen some of the lowest unemployment in decades and strong wage gains that have outpaced inflation growth. 

• “Promoting competition to lower costs and help entrepreneurs and small businesses to thrive.” This includes actions to lower costs by combatting junk fees, lowering prescription drug costs for seniors and enforcing antitrust law. 

However, Harris, like Biden will still have to contend with inflation as a messaging obstacle. Persistent elevated prices are still dragging down public perception of the administration’s handling of the economy.

In the spring, Harris launched a nationwide Economic Opportunity Tour that may serve as a blueprint for the vice president’s talking points in the campaign including:

• Forgiving student loans.

• Forgiving medical debt.

• Investing in infrastructure.

• Investing in small businesses.

• Creating jobs. 

• Increasing access to capital for underserved communities. 

• Cutting costs for insulin and other prescription drugs. 

• Expanding access to health care. 

• Making housing and home buying more affordable. 

• Lowering child care costs. 

• Expanding access to government contracts for minority-owned small businesses.

During a tour stop on May 6 in Detroit, Harris said, “I believe every person in our country must have access to the opportunity to compete, to succeed, and to thrive; the ability to achieve what I call financial freedom, which means having enough not just to get by but to get ahead, to be able to build a business, to own a home, to start a family, and to create intergenerational wealth.”

As the first female vice president of the U.S., Harris has also been the administration’s face on issues that most impact women: abortion access and child care. Harris is a staunch supporter of reproductive rights and, in December, launched a nationwide “reproductive freedoms” tour. And in February, Harris announced rule changes designed to lower copayments for more than 100,000 families who receive federal child care assistance.

What was Harris’ economic record before her vice presidency?

In Harris’ earlier roles as California attorney general and later as a U.S. senator, she proposed:

• Refundable tax credits for renters with qualified earnings.

• A $3,000 per person refundable tax credit for middle- and working-class people through the LIFT (Livable Incomes for Families Today) the Middle Class Act.

• A “Medicare for All” health care plan that retains private insurance. 

• A $20,000 student debt forgiveness plan for Pell Grant recipients who create and run small businesses in disadvantaged areas.

• Increasing public school teacher pay, funded by estate taxes on the wealthy.

Before becoming vice president, Harris served as a U.S. senator from California, attorney general of California and as the district attorney for the city of San Francisco. In early campaign appearances, she has drawn a sharp distinction between her work as a prosecutor and Trump’s ongoing legal issues, including his recent conviction on 34 felony counts.