Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, is set to propose policies she hopes will help spur small business creation across the U.S., according to a campaign official.
For one, she wants to expand the small business tax credit tenfold — from $5,000 to $50,000 — to help startups cover the average $40,000 it costs to launch an enterprise. She’s also setting a goal of receiving 25 million new small business applications in her first term, up from the record 19 million that were filed under the Biden-Harris administration.
Details of the plan to benefit small business are expected to be unveiled in a speech by Harris in New Hampshire Wednesday.
With the proposals, Harris is aiming to make it easier for entrepreneurs to grow their shops by eliminating some of the financial hurdles that can make it difficult for founders to succeed.
The proposals underscore Harris’ conviction that the nation’s 33 million small businesses underpin the U.S. economy, by employing nearly all private-sector workers, generating trillions of dollars annually and driving economic growth and innovation, a campaign official told CBS News.
Harris’ tax deduction proposal would also let new businesses wait until they turned a profit to claim the credit, if they so chose, to reduce their tax bill. “For example, a small business with $15,000 in earnings in its first year can deduct that, then save the rest for future years, or a small business who takes a loss in its first year can wait until future years to claim this deduction,” the official said.
The presidential candidate is also proposing streamlining the tax-filing process by developing a standard deduction for small businesses, making it easier for companies to obtain occupational licenses in order to expand, and incentivizing state and local governments to relax regulations that can hamstring small businesses’ growth.
Other previously announced features in Harris’ wide-ranging economic agenda include promises to cut taxes for most Americans, build more affordable housing, and ban “price gouging” in the food industry.