Harris Vows Tax Cut For 100M, Claims She's Capitalist

Vice President Kamala Harris promised a middle class tax cut for 100 million Americans as part of her "Opportunity Economy" during a speech Wednesday at the Economic Club of Pittsburgh and called herself a capitalist who believes in free and fair markets.

"The American people face a choice between two fundamentally very different paths for our economy: I intend to chart a new way forward and grow America's middle class," Harris said in speech that aired live on Newsmax and was simulcast on the Newsmax2 online streaming platform. "Donald Trump intends to take America backward to the failed policies of the past. He has no intention to grow our middle class."

Harris appeared to be trying to come off as a pragmatist not bound by ideology. She reiterated earlier proposals of extending the child tax credit for newborns to $6,000, offering $25,000 for new home buyers, and extending the tax credit for start-up businesses to $50,000, but offered no new plans.

A recent study from the non-partisan Tax Foundation showed Harris' policies would increase taxes by $4.1 trillion from 2025 to 2034 and lead to the loss of nearly 800,000 jobs.

Harris said Trump has no intention to grow the middle class and is only "interested in making life better for himself and people like himself and the wealthiest of Americans."

"You can see it spelled out in his economic agenda, an agenda that gives trillions of dollars in tax cuts to billionaires and the biggest corporations, while raising taxes on the middle class by almost $4,000 a year, slashing overtime pay, throwing tens of millions of Americans off of health care, and cutting social Security and Medicare.

"His agenda would weaken the economy and hurt working people and the middle class. You see, for Donald Trump, our economy works best if it works for those who own the big skyscrapers, not those who actually build them, not those who wire them, not those who mop the floors."

Harris said her plan is not about politics or ideology but about "common sense," echoing a phrase Trump has used often on the campaign trail in describing how Republicans operate.

"We just need to move past the failed policies that we have proven don't work," Harris said. "And like generations before us, let us be inspired by what is possible. As president, I will be grounded in my fundamental values of fairness, dignity, and opportunity. And I promise you, I will be pragmatic in my approach. I will engage in what Franklin Roosevelt called bold, persistent experimentation. Because I believe we shouldn't be constrained by ideology and instead should seek practical solutions to problems."

Trying to refute claims made by Trump and many Republicans that she is a Marxist — Trump dubs her "Comrade Kamala" — Harris maintained she is a capitalist, even though she vowed to go after corporate landlords who are hiking rental prices and "take on bad actors who exploit emergencies and drive up grocery prices by enacting the first ever federal ban on corporate price gouging."

"Look, I am a capitalist," she said. "I believe in free and fair markets. I believe in consistent and transparent rules of the road to create a stable business environment."