Kamala Harris proposes $50,000 tax break for small businesses
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, on Wednesday proposed policies she hopes will help spur small business creation across the U.S., and she announced a break with one of President Biden's policies by calling for a smaller increase than he has proposed on taxes on capital gains.
For one, she wants to expand the small business tax credit tenfold — from $5,000 to $50,000 — to help startups cover the average $40,000 it costs to launch an enterprise. She's also setting a goal of receiving 25 million new small business applications in her first term, up from the record 19 million that were filed under the Biden-Harris administration.
On the capital gains tax, Harris argued that "when the government encourages investment it leads to broad based economic growth and it creates jobs which make our economy stronger."
Harris' proposal of 28% capital gains tax rate for those making over $1 million is lower than than the 39.6% rate established in Biden's FY2025 budget proposal. It is currently 23.8%.
With the proposals, Harris is aiming to make it easier for entrepreneurs to grow their shops by eliminating some of the financial hurdles that can make it difficult for founders to succeed.
The proposals underscore Harris' conviction that the nation's 33 million small businesses underpin the U.S. economy, by employing nearly all private-sector workers, generating trillions of dollars annually and driving economic growth and innovation, a campaign official told CBS News.
Harris' tax deduction proposal would also let new businesses wait until they turned a profit to claim the credit, if they so chose, to reduce their tax bill.
The presidential candidate is also proposing streamlining the tax-filing process by developing a standard deduction for small businesses, making it easier for companies to obtain occupational licenses in order to expand, and incentivizing state and local governments to relax regulations that can hamstring small businesses' growth.
Other previously announced features in Harris' wide-ranging economic agenda include promises to cut taxes for most Americans, build more affordable housing, and ban "price gouging" in the food industry.
