On Wednesday’s broadcast of “CNN Newsroom,” CNN host and correspondent Julia Chatterley said that most small businesses report their income on personal tax returns and get a write-off of up to 20%, but that could end with the Trump tax cuts and while 2024 Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump wants to extend that, 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris isn’t clear on that issue, and that dwarfs anything else she talks about on small businesses.

Chatterley said, “I think this tax deduction rise is a splashy way of suggesting that you’re providing support. It’s probably a smart way, too, of differentiating that you are trying to provide support for small business while taxing larger business. … The impact, sadly, Wolf, I think is debatable. One good point about this is the cost is absolutely minimal compared to the billions and billions of other dollars of policy potential spending that they’re talking about doing. Look, bottom line, anything that cuts red tape, that provides support, encouragement, and incentivizes businesses to start up and grow is a good thing, something that saves them time filling out paperwork, too. But one could argue that much of what stimulated the record numbers of job applications — and by the way, applications aren’t businesses, by the way — is the post-pandemic era, the fact that people left their jobs and decided to work from home and start businesses [on] their own with the incentives that existed already.”

She continued, “The big challenge is, and we want to hear this from Harris today, if you want to start a business, you need cash, you need credit. Can you get credit access at a price you can afford? That’s one of the critical issues. The other thing is you have to pay payrolls, you have to pay wages, of course, buy products, buy equipment. How are you going to do that? Again, you need cash. A tax deduction doesn’t really kick in in the first few years if you’re losing money, extending the time that that’s available is important and they are talking about that. The final point, Wolf, and it’s a critical point, and it’s going to be key for Harris to address, particularly, one week out from the presidential debate. Right now, the vast majority of small businesses report their income on their personal tax returns. Right now, they get a write-off of around 20% of — of up to 20% of their income. That could roll off next year as the Trump tax cuts roll off. Trump has said he will extend that. Harris is operating right now in a gray area, and that will dwarf anything that she talks about today, unless, of course, she decides to address it and clarify.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett