Update 806 — A New Opportunity Economy:
Harris Sketches Vision in Acceptance Speech
In her presidential nomination acceptance speech closing out the Democratic National Convention in Chicago last night, Vice President Harris offered her vision of the economy — one that focuses squarely on extending opportunity for and access to all, and expanding the American middle class — grounded in the story of her own family background and upbringing and the values that have guided and motivated her since.
The speech included some familiar policy initiatives as well as some new ones — most notably a commitment to address the nation’s housing shortage, improve access to capital for entrepreneurs, and promising a middle-class tax cut — featuring an attack on what Harris called Trump’s national sales tax, a reference to his tariff policy.
Below, we review the speech as well as the policy platform formally adopted by the DNC this week. Democrats now return to the campaign trail with 75 days until Election Day, buoyed by more enthusiasm and optimism following the convention than almost anyone thought possible just over a month ago.
Good weekends, all…
Best,
Dana
Vice President Harris delivered a powerful acceptance speech last night in which she outlined her vision of an American economic future deeply rooted in her own “unlikely journey.”
Harris focused on her gratitude for the opportunities she worked to make the most of growing up and her recognition that such opportunity is not available to everyone. She painted the picture of an “opportunity economy,” in which everyone – workers, entrepreneurs, companies – has the chance to compete and succeed. She highlighted a path forward that brings together workers and business owners to create jobs, grow the economy, and lower the cost of everyday needs like health care, housing, and groceries.
Party Presents a Vision of America’s Economic Future
Over the past week, Harris has laid out key economic proposals her administration would prioritize in its first 100 days, including policies to address housing supply and costs, lower the cost of groceries, and protect and expand the Child Tax Credit (CTC) and Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).
These proposals build on the Biden-Harris administration’s work to create a more prosperous, equitable, and resilient economy. They also build on the proposals outlined in the 2024 Democratic Party Platform which was written and voted on by the Democratic National Convention’s Platform Committee prior to President Biden stepping down as the Democratic nominee and endorsing Harris. The expansive platform was drafted with input from leaders across the party and approved by convention delegates in a vote on Monday.
Harris’s economic agenda will undoubtedly be the unique mark of her administration. And the Vice President has already discussed proposals that go further than those described in the Democratic platform. Nonetheless, the principles of the platform serve as a strong foundation as Harris further solidifies the details of her economic plan.
- Lowering Costs
Affordability remains the primary economic concern for American voters. The Democratic Party Platform appropriately states that “Lowering costs is Democrats’ number one economic priority.”
The platform pledges that the Democratic party will “help cut costs for consumers, crack down on price gouging, and get companies to use their record profits to reduce prices long-term.” Harris has already built on this commitment in her broader proposals to tackle corporate price gouging.
- Promoting Competition Across the U.S Economy
The platform highlights that affordability is directly tied to increasing levels of corporate consolidation which have allowed “companies to keep raking in historic profits, while continuing to raise prices for working families.” Consumers, workers, and small businesses are all squeezed by consolidated corporations that abuse their dominant market power.
The agriculture sector, for example, has become dominated by Big Agriculture. As the platform notes, the United States has lost “over 400,000 farms in America in the last 40 years.” The platform highlights the Biden administration’s work to support independent meat and poultry processing, reduce producers’ reliance on big companies to buy their products and make livestock and poultry markets fairer and more transparent.
Harris has strongly tied promoting competition in the agriculture sector to lowering prices for consumers. It is imperative that her campaign gives equal attention to the harms of consolidation in our food systems at every step in the supply chain, building on the comprehensive focus of the Biden-Harris administration. This would include, as the platform emphasizes, working to get farmers the right to repair their own equipment, without having to pay big equipment makers for diagnostic tools and repair.
- Housing
Harris’ housing agenda mostly follows similar proposals made by President Biden in the Democratic Party platform but is considerably more ambitious. These include her expansion of President Biden’s first-time homebuyers tax credit and her doubling of the Housing Innovation Fund. One aspect of the platform that she has not embraced is President Biden’s call to renovate homes as part of the effort to expand and preserve America’s housing stock.
As America faces a housing shortage of at least 4 million units, preserving America’s existing housing units will be essential to combating the housing crisis. According to the National Association of Home Builders, the median age of owner-occupied homes in the US is 40 years, a median that has increased by 8 years since the Great Recession. Much of this housing is in serious need of renovation to keep it habitable. If Harris wants to make it clear that she is serious about addressing America’s housing supply shortage, she would do well to support measures to keep Americans’ homes livable.
- Fiscal Policy
On the heels of the Harris campaign’s economic agenda released last Friday, which included proposals to expand the Child Tax Credit (CTC), Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), and Health Insurance Premium Tax Credit (PTC), the 2024 Democratic Party Platform offers more insight into the party’s ideas to raise additional revenue to pay for middle-class tax cuts, investments in the American people, and address the soaring national debt.
Chapter Two of the platform, aptly named “Rewarding Work, Not Wealth,” highlights the Biden-Harris administration’s proposals for tax cuts and revenue raisers, which are presented in stark contrast with Trump’s plans to reinforce tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy and corporations. While some of these proposals, like increasing the corporate tax rate to 28 percent, protecting enhanced PTCs, and restoring the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) expansion of the CTC and EITC, have the stated support of Harris and her campaign, the greater picture of her fiscal policy agenda remains unclear.
Earlier this week, the Harris campaign expressed broad support for revenue-raising provisions included in Biden’s FY25 budget, but this is about as detailed of a roadmap we are likely to see before the election. Some of the revenue-raising proposals included in Biden’s FY25 budget and the 2024 Democratic Party Platform are:
- Enacting a Billionaire Minimum Income Tax (BMIT) rate of 25 percent for billionaires, raising $500 billion over 10 years.
- Ending preferential tax treatment for passive income (capital gains).
- Eliminating the “stepped-up in basis” loophole, allows wealthy individuals to avoid paying taxes on capital gains when passing investments to heirs.
- Increasing the stock buyback excise tax passed in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) from one to four percent.
- Protecting investments in the IRS, which have a positive return in revenue.
Specific and detailed revenue-raising proposals from the Harris campaign would help demonstrate her commitment to fiscal responsibility and restoring fairness to the tax code. The Biden campaign, along with the Biden-Harris Administration, laid the foundation for a fiscal policy transformation, given Democratic victories in November. Consideration of fiscal policy will be impossible to avoid, given the looming expiration of individual TCJA provisions and reinstatement of the federal debt limit. But it remains for now unclear if Harris’ fiscal stances will be articulated with full clarity during the course of the 2024 campaign.
On from Chicago
The Biden-Harris administration has led the strongest post-pandemic economic recovery in the advanced world in terms of growth and jobs — substantially advancing progressive economic priorities. The record, though, was not reflected in polling, with Biden trailing Trump on economic policy approval generally by 15-20 points. A majority of Americans still believe the economy is in a recession.
But the Harris-Walz campaign is seen more as a blank slate unburdened by perceptions regarding “Bidenomics.” Economic polling since Harris announced her campaign now shows her near parity with Trump, quite an accomplishment in itself. If elected, a Harris-Walz administration would no doubt seek to build on the Biden administration’s work, with supplemental policy initiatives intended to expand on the effort to ensure a broader range of economic opportunities are afforded to all.
As Harris said last night, “a strong middle class has always been critical to America’s success, and building that middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency.” This message seems to be resonating with voters thus far — as it obviously did for the delegates at this week’s DNC. Many details of the mentioned policies are still to come, and some are bound to emerge during the course of the campaign when the Harris-Walz team invariably fine-tunes policy stances and sharpens its messages and appeals to the electorate ahead of November.