Trump, Harris lay out starkly different views on corporate taxes, economy

Former President Donald Trump will go before a group of executives and industry leaders on Thursday to make his case that he can bring down prices for Americans by lifting regulations and boosting production of fossil fuels in a potential second term.

The GOP presidential nominee is speaking to the Economic Club of New York a day after appearing in a town hall on Fox News, where he argued that his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, would drive large companies away from the US if she wins the election.

Trump has floated the idea of chopping the 21 per cent corporate tax rate to 15 per cent , a proposal liked by companies, in addition to no taxes on tips and Social Security income. The corporate rate had been 35 per cent when he became president in 2017, and he later signed a bill lowering it.

 

Trump and Harris, the Democratic nominee, want to take the rate in opposite directions while arguing that each is better than the other for American business. It's one of the many ways the two major-party nominees have laid out sharply different views on the economy, a critical issue in this year's election.

Trump had a slight advantage over Harris on which candidate would better handle the economy, according to an AP-NORC poll conducted in August. Some 45 per cent of adults said Trump would do a better job, and 38 per cent said Harris.

Harris calls for raising the corporate tax rate to 28 per cent from 21 per cent . Her policy proposals this week have been geared toward promoting more entrepreneurship, a bet that making it easier to start new companies will increase middle class prosperity.

Economists have warned about Trump's plans to impose tariffs that he says would return manufacturing jobs to the US. Some have said such taxes on imports could worsen inflation, though he is vowing to cut down costs. Inflation peaked in 2022 at 9.1 per cent but has since eased to 2.9 per cent as of last month.

President Joe Biden's administration preserved the tariffs on China introduced under the Trump administration and banned exports of advanced computer chips to China.

Harris favours a top capital gains rate of 28 per cent , whereas Biden has wanted to nearly double the existing rate to 39.6 per cent on investors making more than $ 1 million. Both also want to increase a separate tax rate on investment income.

In New Hampshire on Wednesday, Harris called for expanding tax deductions tied to the expenses of starting a business and set a goal of 25 million applications to form new companies over the next four years.