Photo: Mike Stewart Associated Press Kamala Harris promises to help families with tax breaks, including a new tax credit for those with newborns, and to crack down on companies that “inflate” prices unduly, especially for food.
Allison Joyce – Agence France-Presse and Aurélia End – Agence France-Presse respectively in Raleigh and Washington
Published at 15:44 Updated at 16:24
- United States
Kamala Harris promised Friday to “fight” for the middle class if she wins the US presidential election, contrasting her economic plans with those of her rival Donald Trump, whom the vice president accuses of serving the richest.
“Donald Trump is fighting for billionaires and big business. I will fight to give money back to middle- and working-class families,” promised the 59-year-old Democratic candidate during a trip to North Carolina (southeast).
Her team had previously unveiled a program focused on purchasing power and described as “communist” by her Republican rival.
Kamala Harris put forward some concrete measures: the construction of three million new homes to deal with the “shortage”, assistance for first-time home buyers, and a new tax credit for births, of up to $6,000, during the first year of a child's life.
She also intends to combat real estate speculation and discourage price inflation in the food sector, while capping the price of insulin and tackling the debts incurred by Americans to treat themselves.
The Democrat has been careful not to repeat the mistakes of Joe Biden, whose torch she has taken up.
Read also
- Biden and Harris welcome the “historic” drop in the price of ten drugs
- Trump wants to postpone his sentencing until after the presidential election
“Devastating”
The Democratic president spent his mandate touting his major investment plans and the good American economy, but never managed to articulate a convincing message in the face of inflation which has hit the world's largest economy.
200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000Kamala Harris, on the contrary, insisted on the feelings of households regarding the high cost of living: “Too many people have the impression that even if they work as much as possible, they do not care about it. don't go out. »
The vice-president, looking after her image, spoke of her mother's efforts to buy a house and recounted having worked at McDonald's when she was a student, to make pocket money.
Everything to distinguish herself from the 78-year-old billionaire whom she will face at the polls on November 5, and from whom she exhausted economic projects.
Recalling that Donald Trump wanted to sharply increase customs duties, Kamala Harris judged that this was equivalent to “imposing a national tax on consumption” which would be “devastating”.
“That means higher prices on all your daily needs. A 'Trump tax' on gas, a 'Trump tax' on food, a 'Trump tax' on clothing…” she listed, assuring that her rival's plan would cost an average family $3,900 a year.
Plagiarism
“Comrade Harris all the way into communism!” “, former President Donald Trump counterattacked on Friday.
The term obviously has a particularly strong pejorative connotation in the United States.
According to a University of Michigan poll published on Friday, 41% of consumers believe that the vice president is a better candidate for the economy, with 38% believing that Donald Trump is the right choice in this area.
A setback for the Republican, a former businessman, who had always largely dominated Joe Biden in this type of opinion poll.
The Democrat had provoked Donald Trump's fury by recently proposing to eliminate taxes on tips in the hotel and restaurant industry and other service activities. The Republican accused her of “plagiarizing” one of his ideas.
His running mate, J.D. Vance, made a similar reproach to Kamala Harris, accusing her of copying his proposal for an increased tax credit for families. He puts forward the figure of a tax boost of $5,000 per year per child for American families.
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan fiscal policy think tank, has estimated that Harris’s proposals would cost between $1.7 trillion and $2 trillion.
Her vice president, Marc Goldwein, told AFP that the $5,000-per-year, per-child tax credit proposed by the Republican duo alone would cost more than $2 trillion.