RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — 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 will be in the battleground state of North Carolina on Friday to lay out her plans, 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.
Many of the changes would require congressional approval, far from a given in the current political environment. Harris is trying to blunt Trump's attacks on her as “a radical California liberal who broke the economy,” as he put in during a speech Thursday at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, where he displayed popular grocery store items meant to represent the high cost o.