Harris Surrogate Slams Her Proposed Tax Policy
During a Wednesday appearance on CNBC, Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California criticized a proposed tax on unrealized capital gains supported by Vice President Kamala Harris.
Harris backs a 25% tax on unrealized capital gains for individuals with a net worth of $100 million or more, a concept similar to one outlined by President Biden in a March 11 White House fact sheet, as reported by NBC News.
Kamala announces her plan to tax capital gains at a rate higher than communist China (she'll also tax unrealized gains, expand the death tax, and add ANOTHER death tax — among many other tax hikes).
Americans can't afford Kamala Harris! pic.twitter.com/mzuHzBpoa1
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) September 4, 2024
Khanna expressed concern that Harris’ plan could lead to assets being sold off to private equity firms.
“Let me tell you why I don’t think a blanket tax on unrealized gain is a good thing. I mean, let’s say you’re an entrepreneur, you create a company, and it gets to $100 million or $200 million on paper,” Khanna said. “Now if you’re taxing that, you’re probably going to force that person to sell it. They’re probably going to sell it to private equity. Do you really want the entrepreneurs to be forced to sell their companies to larger institutions and to decline in value? I just — I don’t think that that’s what you want for a startup ecosystem.”
“Squawk Box” co-host Joe Kernen pointed out that a proposal like this wouldn’t negatively impact someone like Amazon co-founder Jeff Bezos.
“I think the whole policy is demagoguing, they’re going to go after these people that they say pay less of a tax rate than their maid does and they have billions of dollars,” Kernen said. I get why, but this is not the right way to do it and also, 95% of investments in startups fail. And so you’re going to disincentivize investments in those startups. But here’s what I think we can go after. You have folks, OK, they start to have capital appreciation, and then instead of realizing that, they take out a loan, which I call backdoor realization, to fund their entire lifestyle. They never pay tax on that. Then when they die, they pass that money on to their heirs, and their — their kids never pay tax on that.”
'Not The Right Way To Do It' Harris Surrogate Trashes Tax Proposal She Supports On CNBC pic.twitter.com/E4iBqlP9DO
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) September 4, 2024
The proposal to tax potential profits from selling assets has been referred to as a “wealth tax” by SmartAsset.com, a platform that provides consumer-focused financial information and advice.
In addition to this, Harris plans to raise the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%, a move similar to one mentioned in a March 7 White House fact sheet, according to NBC News. During an Aug. 16 speech on economic policy, the vice president also suggested empowering the Federal Trade Commission to impose “harsh penalties” on grocery stores engaged in “price gouging.”
On Wednesday, former President Donald Trump’s campaign drew attention to Khanna’s critique in a statement, claiming, “Kamala Harris’ economic ideas keep getting panned by her own people.” The release added, “Kamala is clueless. America needs President Trump’s proven leadership back in the White House.”
Harris has not yet responded to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
