The most striking proposals were for the elimination of medical debt for millions of Americans; the “first-ever” ban on price gouging for groceries and food; a cap on prescription drug costs; a $25,000 subsidy for first-time home buyers; and a child tax credit that would provide $6,000 per child to families for the first year of a baby’s life.

The last item followed a suggestion earlier this month from Sen. JD Vance (Ohio), the GOP vice-presidential nominee, that the credit be raised from $2,000 per child to $5,000. Harris is also calling for restoring the Biden administration’s child tax credit that expired at the end of 2021, which raised the benefit for most families from $2,000 per child to $3,000.

 

Child Tax Credit ‘Arms Race’ Raises Budget Questions - Alexander Rifaat, Tax Notes ($):

According to the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, Harris’s tax proposals, which include extending the Affordable Care Act’s premium tax credit, expanding the low-income housing tax credit and the earned income tax credit, would add an estimated $1.7 trillion to the national deficit. Trump’s proposals, including fully extending the expiring tax provisions in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, could cost $3.4 trillion over a decade, according to a joint analysis by the Committee for a Responsible Budget and the Congressional Budget Office.

Of all of Harris’s proposals, the restoration of the full refundability of the child tax credits, which were temporarily increased to up to $3,600 as part of the American Rescue Plan Act, would be the most expensive, costing an estimated $1.1 trillion.