Daily Times

US Vice President Kamala Harris outlined economic proposals including a federal ban on price gouging in groceries and tax breaks for families in her first major economy-focused speech as the Democratic presidential nominee during a visit to North Carolina on Friday. Though her plans do not stray far from those put forth by the Biden administration, Harris shifted the focus from job creation and infrastructure to measures that would ease the cost of living for Americans.

Vice President Kamala Harris is promoting a broad set of economic proposals that would offer new tax breaks and lower the cost of living for Americans, aiming to address the financial concerns that are at the top of the mind for voters and that Republican Donald Trump is trying to lay at her doorstep.

Harris traveled to the battleground state of North Carolina to lay out her plans on Friday, including a proposal for a federal ban on price gouging on groceries. She also is proposing $25,000 in down payment help for certain first-time homebuyers and tax incentives for builders of starter homes, among other things.

Harris is calling for tax breaks aimed at families, as well as middle- and lower-income people. She would expand the child tax credit to up to $3,600 – and $6,000 for children in their first year of life. Harris would expand the earned income tax credit to cover people in lower-income jobs without children, which the campaign estimates would cut their effective tax rate by $1,500. Harris also wants to lower health insurance premiums through the Affordable Care Act. Overall, the plan represents a continuation of many Biden administration priorities but with a pronounced shift in emphasis from job creation and infrastructure and to matters more closely tied to easing the cost of living – food prices, housing and tax breaks for families. Many initiatives would require congressional approval, which is far from assured in the current political environment, and there were scant details on how to pay for the ideas.

Some of Trump’s economic advisers offered rebuttals, with Brian Hughes, a spokesman for the former president’s campaign, calling the vice president’s plans representative of “the most socialist and authoritarian model.” Kevin Hassett, a former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors during the Trump administration, called it “completely preposterous” for the government to play a role in setting food prices, a reference to Harris’ proposed federal ban on “corporate price-gouging” in food and groceries.

Stephen Moore, who has advised Trump on economic issues, argued that inflation increases under the Biden administration have been “catastrophic,” and charged that the Biden administration and Harris “try to blame a lot of the problems that they’ve created on Trump.”