The 2024 Election is just a few short weeks away. The primary results from recent polling in this election are decisively close, and the major differences in the personality and policies of both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are going to sway voters to either vote for the Democratic ticket or the Republican one. A sufficient way to pursue the vote of different demographics is by appealing to different economic policies compared to those of your opponent. Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have a wide range of economic policy differences that will contribute to their electability in the 2024 election which will change the future of our country forever.

Economic Policy: Kamala Harris

Starting off with taxation, Kamala Harris desires to substantially increase taxes on the corporate and individual elite while decreasing taxes and deductions from lower earners. She wants to fund low-income families with $6,000 to help raise their children and support first-time home buyers with a $25,000 incentive. Her policy includes increasing capital gains tax to 33% on incomes over $1 million, as well as a tax increase on stock buybacks of 4% from the current 1%. She also wants to increase the deduction for new business startups to $50,000 while eliminating taxes on tips for workers making less than $75,000. Kamala would like to increase the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour from $7.25 an hour and provide student debt relief to a wider range of borrowers. She wants to expand initiatives on antitrust measures and ban “price gouging” in the grocery industry. Her views on China include stricter investment restrictions on anything tied to national security and target tariffs to specified industries like technology coming from China.

Economic Policy: Donald Trump

Donald Trump desires to decrease taxes overall for corporations, especially those manufacturing inside of the United States. He wants a corporate tax rate of 20%, down from the current 21% rate while a 15% tax rate would be given to companies with U.S. manufacturing. He wants to permanently extend tax rates that were established in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. He would like to eliminate income tax on tips, overtime pay, and Social Security benefits and also reinstate deductions for local and state income taxes. He wants to expand the child tax credit to $5,000 and make tax-deductible auto loan interest. A big part of Trump’s policy includes tariffs of 60% on goods from China as well as limiting any nonessential imports from them. He wants to limit semiconductor exports to China and increase restrictions on investments that relate to national security matters. Overall, he would like a 10% to 20% tariff across the board favoring U.S. goods as well as possibly exiting the World Trade Organization. He wants a general cutoff of regulations across the banking and appliance industry, and possibly eliminate the U.S. Department of Education.

A Careful Comparison

A substantial portion of both the Democratic and Republican campaigns are attributed to discussing and showing Americans the benefits of their own economic policies and how they will help everyday people. The sole purpose of policy is to create an electable agenda for a candidate that will get them and their party into office. By focusing on acts that will generally promote the economic well-being of lower income families, Kamala Harris has her eyes set on a large demographic of the United States. Trump competes with this focus by taking aim at the middle and upper classes of the population by showing that he wants to support their businesses through economic incentives and increase their income by lessening taxation. Each candidate has both economic benefits and detriments tied to their overall policies that each and every elector must think about when casting their vote. Economic policy drives change and innovation within the United States, and although both Harris’s and Trump’s policies are staunchly different, their goal is the same; Help Americans get what they dream about and let their desires to lead an economically sustainable and stable life prosper.