It’s Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign now. But when it comes to taxes, Hill Democrats want her to stick with the same message President Joe Biden was sounding before he dropped out of the race.
Democratic lawmakers see the tax policy message Biden and fellow Democrats have been running as a winning hand. They want to argue that the Trump tax cuts — which former President Donald Trump wants to extend next year — benefited the rich and big corporations, while Democrats would reverse that trend.
And Biden’s pledge not to raise taxes on anyone who makes less than $400,000 per year? Democrats on the tax-writing committees told us they want Harris to stick with that promise.
“She’s got like 110 days. I mean, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) said.
“When it comes to taxes, I think President Biden had the right plans at the beginning,” added Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.), citing the $400,000 pledge, undoing Trump tax cuts for the wealthiest households and investing money in child care, the child tax credit and programs to help Americans buy homes and afford rent.
Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) also said that’s the sort of message he expects Harris to convey to voters.
Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) urged similar messaging. Jayapal believes Harris should talk about her work on taxes with Biden, including on the Inflation Reduction Act.
“I think that she just is going to be able to connect on all of the pieces of the work that she already did with President Biden, but also the 100-day agenda that he started to lay out in Detroit,” Jayapal said of Harris. “And I think she’s got the chops to talk about it with communities that probably are disproportionately burdened.”
Other lawmakers are hopeful Harris will spotlight key tax issues they’ve pushed for, which generally align with priorities for the party.
Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) wants to see Harris run on a permanent expansion of the child tax credit, for example.
And Rep. Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.) said he’s hopeful that after living in and representing California, Harris will put a focus on housing. Panetta backs a broad range of tax policies to incentivize more affordable housing, including for middle-income Americans. That’s a bigger focus in high-cost states like California.
The swing state view: Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), who’s running for reelection in a key battleground state, didn’t want to weigh in on how Harris should message on taxes.
Nonetheless, Casey said he wants Harris to come to Pennsylvania to talk about taxes and the economy. Casey plans to tout Democratic priorities like expanding the child tax credit and raising taxes for billionaires and big corporations during the rest of his reelection run.
Casey also noted that the expiring Trump tax cuts next year create the circumstances for the “most important tax bill in at least 25 years.”
“I’m going to be campaigning on winning that tax fight for middle class families and kids,” Casey said.
