The winner of the November elections will have a unique opportunity to reshape tax policy. Built-in changes to the tax code at the end of 2025 are expected to prompt broader tax reform (see our article for what is scheduled to change).
Republicans and Democrats have vastly different visions for how to remake the tax code. This article will provide a side-by-side comparison of the tax platforms of the two candidates for president, but it is important to consider these proposals in context.
What does it mean?
Party campaign platforms have one purpose: to get party candidates elected. Campaigns typically focus on broad goals and leave out many difficult details. Candidates generally are not overly concerned with any practical or political hurdles to enactment. The proposals don’t have to be administrable or consistent as long as they appeal to voters.
No one should expect a tax platform to be enacted exactly as promised on the campaign trail. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act differed significantly from Trump’s 2016 tax platform, as did the Inflation Reduction Act from Biden’s 2020 platform. Control of Congress will also be very important to the outcome.
What is known?
Comparing the tax platforms of the two presidential candidates is particularly difficult this year. Former President Donald Trump has a long history of evolving tax positions from three straight campaigns and four years in office. It can be difficult to identify which positions represent his current priorities, as he often speaks off the cuff and sometimes releases new proposals with little or no warning.
The description of Trump’s platform is based primarily on his statements during the campaign. In some areas, previous positions (and some broader Republican positions) are highlighted, with context on how the position may have evolved.
Democratic nominee and current Vice President Kamala Harris on the other hand has a much thinner tax record. She was not heavily involved in tax policy in her short tenure in the Senate, and did not have an expansive tax platform during her campaign in the 2020 Democratic primary. She has largely absorbed much of President Joe Biden’s tax platform, though it is not always clear to what extent. She has affirmatively confirmed support for several Biden positions, and broken with him in a couple of key areas. She has also released two economic plans with many new tax proposals.
The description of the Harris platform is primarily based on proposals in her recent economic plans and statements she has made since becoming the nominee. In some areas, positions from Biden’s platform are highlighted as potentially incorporated in her platform, with context added to describe the assumptions. It also mentions some priorities from her time in the Senate and prior campaign proposals, with notes to describe the context.
The tables are not exhaustive and do not cover every policy position or all aspects of either candidate’s legislative record. They are meant to identify some of the most significant tax proposals and policy differences as of Oct. 10.
Related election resources
- Corporate rate
- Business tax cuts
- Business tax increases
- Individual tax cuts
- Individual tax increases
- Capital gains
- Estate tax
- International
Trump
- Retain 21% rate with 15% rate for unspecified domestic activity
- Trump also mentioned a general 20% rate at speech with a trade group
Harris
- Increase rate to 28%
- Harris originally endorsed a 35% rate in the 2020 primary
Trump
- Retain the Section 199A pass-through deduction
- Past campaigns and statements have mentioned unspecified payroll tax cuts and restoring 100% bonus depreciation
Harris
- Create new unspecified America Forward tax credit with labor requirements for companies engaged in “innovative fields,” particularly for “retooling or rebuilding an existing facility”
- Create unspecified standard deduction for small businesses
- Increase start-up expensing to $50,000
- Enhance the low-income housing tax credit
- Create a tax credit for building starter homes
- Allow a credit for certain rehab costs
Trump
- Repeal energy tax incentives from the IRA, particular those for electric vehicles
- Some Republicans have recently softened on broad repeal
Harris
- Bar certain tax benefits for corporate landlords that raise rents
- Bar certain tax benefits for taxpayers buying more than 50 single-family homes
- While running in 2020, Harris supported a surtax for big banks and a financial transactions tax, though the financial transactions tax was earmarked for a “Medicare-for-all” plan she has so far not resurrected.
- Harris has not explicitly endorsed all of Biden’s platform, but is widely assumed to support many of the tax increases in recent budget proposals, including:
- Stock buyback tax increase to 4%
- CAMT rate increase to 21%
- Barring deductions for all pay exceeding $1 million for all employees
- Limiting Section 1031 like-kind exchanges to $500,000 in gain
- Tightening digital asset rules
- Repealing oil and gas tax incentives
- Curbing specific types of corporate transactions
Trump
- Exempt tip income from tax
- Exempt Social Security payments from tax
- Exempt overtime pay from tax
- Repeal SALT cap
- Extend the TCJA tax cuts
- Lower or eliminate income taxes for Americans living abroad
- Create a deduction for auto loan interest on domestic cars
- ‘Think about” eliminating income taxes for military and first responders
- Republican platform document suggests “supporting home ownership through tax incentives”
- Trump has in the past discussed a 10% “middle class tax cut” and reducing the 22% tax bracket to 15%
- Trump has hinted at replacing income taxes to fullest extent possible with tariffs
Harris
- Exempt tip income from tax
- Extend enhanced EITC and CTC
- Create first-time homebuyer credit
- Increase CTC to $6,000 in first year of life
- Harris’ pledge not to raise taxes on those earning less than $400,000 presumably implies extending TCJA cuts below this threshold
- While in the Senate, Harris proposed a refundable savers credit and increasing child and dependent care tax credit in the LIFT Act, and also supported a credit for those spending more than 30% on rent
Trump
- Trump has discussed ending the enhanced ACA premium tax credit
Harris
- Expand the 3.8% NII tax and raise the top NII and Medicare rate to 5%
- The LIFT Act from Harris in 2020 proposed rescinding TCJA tax cuts for over $100,000 in income, which would increase the top individual rate to 39.6%, though she has now reiterated Biden’s pledge not to increase taxes on those earning less than $400,000.
Trump
- Trump discussed indexing capital gains to inflation before rejecting during his first term
- Trump has in the past criticized the tax treatment of carried interest and the TCJA increased the holding period for long-term gains treatment
Harris
- Increase capital gains tax to 28%
- Implement “billionaire” minimum tax on unrealized gains
- Harris has not explicitly mentioned carried interest, but may implicitly support Biden’s proposal to tax carried interest as ordinary income
Trump
- Trump would make TCJA estate tax provisions permanent
Harris
- Biden’s budget would repeal the step-up in basis of inherited assets and require tax at death
Trump
- Implement a 10% tariff on all imported goods (Trump has also mentioned 20%) and 60% rate against China, potentially to offset other income tax cuts
- Trump and congressional Republicans have been deeply critical of the Pillar 2 agreement and have threatened reciprocal tariffs and other taxes on countries that impose certain taxes on U.S. income or U.S. multinationals
Harris
- Harris’s campaign statements appear to endorse the Biden administration’s sweeping package of international tax proposals that would raise an estimated $632 billion in revenue by aligning U.S. rules more closely with the Pillar 2 global minimum tax
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