This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Skidmore chapter.
It’s no secret that the election is coming up and we’re going to have to decide on who to vote for soon. I don’t know about you all, but when Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are explaining their economic plans, I get lost. Therefore, I’ve included a table below that simplifies Harris’ and Trump’s economic policies.
| Policies | Harris | Trump |
| Medicare and Social Security | – Reinstate the payroll tax, which taxes people who earn $400,000+. This money would go back to the population through Medicare and Social Security checks. – Lower the prices of prescription drugs. |
– Keep Medicare and Social Security relatively similar – Aims to replace ObamaCare, which he previously removed, but direct plans for this are unclear |
| Taxing | – NOT raise the taxes on people making less than $400,000. – Reduce the taxes on middle-income people – Lower taxes on small businesses – Raise the taxes on big businesses – Bring back the earned income tax which can give you money back when doing your taxes or lower the taxes you owe. – Not tax tips that people make. |
– He doesn’t have a set plan, but he wants to extend the tax cut policy that he created in 2017 where he lowered taxes on individuals and corporations. – He wants tips and social security benefits to not be included in people’s income tax. What this means is that workers who make extra wages off tips do not have to pay taxes on this and your social security benefits won’t be included in your taxes. – Put at least a 10% tariff on all imports. What this does is protect domestic industries but this means that the prices of imported goods may rise since it’s more expensive for them to now import to the U.S. – Raise the tariff on China to at least 60% meaning that it will be very expensive for China to sell their goods to the U.S. so Chinese goods may become very expensive for U.S. consumers. – Relapsing the individual income tax with tariffs. What he means with this is instead of the government getting money from having our income taxed he will raise tariffs so this covers the expense of the government not having our income taxed anymore. |
| Student Loans | – Harris supports the student loan forgiveness program where you don’t have to pay your higher education loans after making approved payments for at least 10 years. | – Trump does not support this program. |
| What the economy might look like under both | – Higher inflation – Higher interest rates – More funding for low-income housing. |
– Economic growth will be slower – Higher inflation – The U.S. dollar would become stronger – Higher interest rates – More jobs |
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