Harris Contradicts Own Price Gouging Plan, Suggests ‘Very Few’ Companies Are Culprits
By Jake Beardslee ·
September 20, 2024
Vice President Kamala Harris spoke at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute's 47th Annual Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C., where she addressed economic policies but provided limited specifics. Jasper Colt/USA TODAY / USA TODAY NETWORK
Harris emphasized the importance of community support for children, stating, "I grew up understanding the children of the community are the children of the community, and we should all have a vested interest in ensuring that children can go grow up with the resources that they need to achieve their God-given potential." Josh Morgan-USA TODAY
The Vice President discussed plans to reduce grocery costs for struggling families and combat corporate price gouging. Karolina Kaboompics / Pexels
However, Harris appeared to contradict her own stance by acknowledging that "very few" corporations engage in such practices. Jasper Colt-USA TODAY
Harris explained, "Many of you who have and are coming from states where we've seen extreme weather conditions in California, wildfires in other parts of the country, or even in the pandemic where people are desperate because of these kinds of emergencies, desperate for support, and then some, you know, corporation, and it's very few of them that do this, but then jack up prices to make it more difficult for desperate people to just get by. We need to take that on." Josh Morgan-USA TODAY
Harris' economic plan proposes increasing the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%, a decrease from the 35% rate she supported during her 2020 presidential campaign. Pixabay / Pexels
While her campaign describes this as a "fiscally responsible way to put money back in the pockets of working people and ensure billionaires and big corporations pay their fair share," some policy groups have expressed concerns. Angela Wilhelm/Citizen Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Jason Furman, a Harvard economics professor and former Obama administration economist, expressed his concerns to The New York Times, stating: "This is not sensible policy, and I think the biggest hope is that it ends up being a lot of rhetoric and no reality. There's no upside here, and there is some downside." White House / Wikimedia
The CEO of the largest Hispanic-owned food company in the US, Bob Unanue, claimed that Harris's economic strategy would deliver the "last nails in the coffin of this economy and this country" and asserted that the Biden-Harris administration "started a war" against America's middle class from their first day in office. SidneySM / Wikimedia
"People are voting with their stomachs," stated Republican candidate Donald Trump, referring to food prices, which according to Labor Department statistics, remained almost 30 percent higher in July compared to 2019 levels. Ryan Garza / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
The former president further claimed that Harris's food price regulations would result in "rationing, hunger, and skyrocketing prices." Ryan Garza / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
The Tax Foundation's analysis suggests that Harris' overall plan could lead to a $4.1 trillion tax increase from 2025-2034, potentially reducing long-term GDP by 2%, wages by 1.2%, and resulting in 786,000 job losses during that period. Josh Morgan-USA TODAY
