On Thursday’s broadcast of CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) responded to criticism that 2024 Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris hasn’t given enough clear details on her economic proposals by stating that “you could learn a lot from the way that she’s prioritized the policies she has.”
Co-host Becky Quick asked, “In terms of the long-term capital gains, that’s a big break with the Biden administration as well, instead of going to the 44% that Biden had proposed, she’s now talking about people making $1 million or more paying 28%. But there is some confusion about the net investment income tax and whether that would be raised to 5%, making that total tax 33%. Do you know any of the details around that?”
Polis answered, “Well, I saw her roll out, again, the 28% rate, a welcome break from 44%. A Goldman Sachs analysis showed that Donald Trump’s tariff tax plan would decrease GDP by 0.5%. One of the big differences between a tariff tax and a tax on capital gains or profits is that tariffs are a tax on gross, right? Whether you’re making money or not, that 20% tax times 10% to 20% on gross, on everything, every item that’s imported is a huge drain on the economy [in a way] that a smaller tax on net can never be. And so, that’s, really, fundamentally why Kamala Harris’ economic policies are much more pro-growth than Donald Trump, and I’m excited to see the break from the policies of the Biden administration, which they’ve always put out there, right? They’ve never passed Congress. I don’t think anybody seriously thought the capital gains tax would be anything like 35, 40, 44%. But the fact that Joe Biden was talking about it was always a drain on his credibility for those of us who value growth.”
Co-host and New York Times columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin then asked, “And, Governor, one of the conversations we were having earlier this morning with Mark Cuban was just the timing with which we’re going to hear more about the details of all of the plans and proposals and policy issues that the Vice President is running on, and, unfortunately, thusfar, they have been short on details. And one of the things that Mark said was he said, look, she’s just jumped into the race, you’ve got to give her time. And I think the question for a lot of voters is, how much time? Which is to say, we’re two months out from the election. When do you think that the American public needs to or should know about all of these policies in detail so that we’re not debating whether it’s 28% or it’s really 33% or there really is a tax on unrealized gains or there isn’t etc.?”
Polis responded, “Well, look, I think that you could learn a lot from the way that she’s prioritized the policies she has. So, first one out of the door, housing, one of the biggest costs the American people have, removing barriers to housing, building 3 million new homes, getting rid of bureaucracy and red tape, allowing builders to build. Second, economic policy, right? For the first time, really distancing herself from what President Biden put out there for a number of years, saying we need more pro-growth economic policy, more than that, we need economic policy that encourages risk-taking and entrepreneurship and capital formation. And I’m excited to see those two as some of the first out the gate, of course, people know where she stands on choice, where she stands on other important issues with a long track record, but I’m excited to see the new ideas about how we can encourage entrepreneurship and growth.”
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