What we know about Kamala Harris’s tax plans

Kamala Harris has pledged that strengthening America’s middle class will be a “defining goal” of her presidency, if elected.

In her keynote address at the Democratic National Convention, Harris envisioned what she called an “opportunity economy” anchored by a “middle class tax cut that will benefit more than 100 million Americans,” standing in stark contrast to Donald Trump’s sweeping tax cuts that largely benefit America’s wealthiest households.

Harris has not yet rolled out a specific tax plan, though her campaign says she supports President Joe Biden’s latest budget, which aims to raise more than $5 trillion in taxes over a decade.

Under that plan, individuals making less than $400,000 a year would not see their taxes raised. Instead, Harris would target America’s wealthiest households and corporations — proposed changes that congressional Republicans have roundly rejected.

Here is what we know about Harris’s tax plans so far:

Economic inequality in the US is the worst it’s been in more than four decades, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of government data.

In 1971, 61 percent of Americans lived in middle-class households. But by 2023, that share shrunk to 51 percent. Meanwhile, the share of Americans who live in lower-income households increased from 27 percent to 30 percent over that same time period, while the share in upper-income households also increased, from 11 percent to 19 percent.

Over more than four decades, only individuals within the high-wage income group have seen a significant hike in their incomes, while low-wage and middle-wage earners — people in the 10th and 40th-60th percentiles — saw the least amount of growth.

Under Biden’s tax plan, endorsed by Harris, the tax rate for individuals