Harris, Proposing a Tax Break, Makes a Play for Small-Business Owners

Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday is set to propose expanding a tax break for start-ups, one of a series of policy ideas her campaign is rolling out this week aimed at helping entrepreneurs and small businesses.

The plan, which Ms. Harris will announce during a speech in New Hampshire, would allow new companies to deduct up to $50,000 in start-up expenses, a campaign official said. The move would increase by tenfold a $5,000 deduction that companies can now claim for expenses, like advertising and salaries, that they incurred before they started operating.

The goal of the proposed expansion is to help start 25 million small businesses if Ms. Harris is elected. In New Hampshire, she will also discuss creating a new fund to help small businesses expand, easing regulations and simplifying the taxes small businesses owe by creating a universally available deduction, the campaign official said, without offering additional details. The official revealed the plan on the condition of anonymity to freely share details of a policy proposal not yet released publicly.

Owners of so-called pass-through businesses, the structure for the vast majority of corporations in the United States, already enjoy access to a generous deduction that many progressives view as overwhelmingly benefiting the wealthy.

Since taking over the top of the Democratic ticket, Ms. Harris and her advisers have subtly sought to take a friendlier approach to the business community than President Biden did. Ms. Harris has closer relationships in Silicon Valley, which she once represented as a senator from California, and on Wall Street than Mr. Biden does. Her donors are encouraging her to emphasize the virtue of entrepreneurship and to abandon some of Mr.