Harris Set to Propose Tax Cuts and Subsidies

And even as economists point to supply-chain disruptions and the federal government’s pandemic-era stimulus spending as major factors in price increases, Democrats argue that inflation, which peaked at a 40-year high of 9.1% in mid-2022, has been driven by corporate profit-padding. Many Americans agree, Harris’ advisers have found in polling and focus groups.

Trump, looking to counter expected attention regarding the proposals, held a press conference Thursday at his New Jersey golf club where he labeled the Harris plan as “communist” and warned efforts to control grocery prices would lead to “food shortages, rationing, hunger, dramatically more inflation.”

Light on Specifics

While Harris will offer some policy details in her speech, slated for Friday afternoon in Raleigh, she’s not expected to weigh down the address with too many specifics. Instead, allies say, it’s more important politically to deliver a message showing that she understands voters’ economic struggles and will fight to alleviate them.

“We’re more interested in the storytelling than the precise policy,” said Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which has worked closely with the Harris campaign on economic messaging, drawing on weekly polling conducted with Data for Progress. Harris is right to start with grocery prices, he said, because they are “the number-one pain point in peoples’ lives by far.”

Harris heads into Friday’s speech with a narrow polling advantage on the economy, a rare position for a Democratic presidential candidate.

Forty-two percent of registered voters surveyed for a Financial Times-University of Michigan Ross School of Business poll released Sunday said they trust her to handle the economy, while 41% said former President Donald Trump would do a better job. Biden trailed Trump by six points when the survey was last conducted, in July.

Economic Wariness

Recent U.S. economic data has generally been strong. Stocks climbed Thursday after reports showed that retail spending and the labor market continue to be healthy.

Underlying US inflation eased on an annual basis in July for the fourth consecutive month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday, keeping the Federal Reserve on track to cut interest rates in September.

Still, there have been a few signs of concern that have analysts raising the odds of a recession. The unemployment rate rose in July to 4.3%, the highest level in three years.

Despite the generally positive economic news, voters have a bleak outlook. In the Financial Times-University of Michigan poll, 73% of those surveyed described American economic conditions as negative.

While Harris is promising to fight drugmakers from the Oval Office, she can also point to what the Biden administration has already done to cut costs. For the first time since he dropped out of the presidential race, Biden joined Harris for a public appearance on Thursday to roll out the lower prices secured from pharmaceutical companies for participants in Medicare Part D.

Harris says she would push the government to negotiate additional savings faster, and cap the monthly cost of insulin at $35 for all Americans.

(Photos: Bloomberg)