Politics

Harris Touts Small Business Tax Deductions That Mimic Republican Proposal She Once Voted Against

Flickr/Official White House Photo by Cameron Smith

Vice President Kamala Harris added a proposal to her campaign platform on Wednesday that would expand tax credits for small businesses, despite previously voting against a similar measure while in the U.S. Senate.

Harris proposed increasing the small business tax deduction from $5,000 to $50,000 during a campaign stop outside of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, according to CBS News. A majority of Democrats opposed a 2018 bill that sought to raise the deduction to $20,000, and Harris voted against the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), which created a new 20% deduction on income for many business owners.

“As President, one of my highest priorities will be to strengthen America’s small businesses,” Harris said at the campaign stop, according to CBS. “So, first we’re gonna help more small businesses and innovators get off the ground.”

Trump and the GOP tried to give small businesses a 20K tax deduction to start a small business. Dems were against it. Now she is proposing a 50K deduction. She was against it and now she’s for it? Don’t believe anything she says believe what she did when she opposed the plan!🥴

— Helen M (@HelenM17813215) September 4, 2024

The fiscal year 2018 TCJA tax deduction applied to owners of “pass-through businesses” — businesses that report their income on the individual tax returns of their owners — who made less than $157,500 and owners filing jointly who made less than $315,000. The TCJA also expanded the child tax credit, a benefit Harris has proposed to raise to $6,000 for families with newborns.

Harris opposed the TCJA at the time because it reduced income tax rates for top earners.

“The Republican tax bill that passed the Senate is a travesty,” she wrote in a 2017 X post discussing the TCJA. “It gives even more tax breaks to the top 1% and permanently cuts corporate tax rates at the expense of middle class families. This isn’t what Americans wanted, and it’s up to us to fight back at the ballot box in 2018.”

The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.