Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, is set to visit New Hampshire on Wednesday to unveil a bold plan: a $50,000 tax deduction for new small businesses. This move is strategically designed to win over independent voters and Republicans who are expressing discontent with former President Donald Trump.
The announcement, taking place in North Hampton, New Hampshire, will be framed as a crucial step towards stimulating economic growth. The campaign emphasizes the significance of small businesses as major employers, citing government data that reveals they have generated 70% of net new U.S. jobs since 2019.
Harris is particularly focused on independent voters in New Hampshire, where registered independents outnumber both Democrats and Republicans. Recent polls suggest Harris holds a lead of four to six percentage points over Trump, her Republican challenger in the November 5th election.
Trump’s spokesperson, Karoline Leavitt, has dismissed reports that Republicans are abandoning New Hampshire, emphasizing the campaign’s presence in the state. Leavitt criticizes Harris’ economic policies, claiming they are detrimental to small businesses and blames them for rising energy prices and inflation.
Harris will be joined by elected officials and a leader of a “Republicans for Harris” group in New Hampshire at a brewery. The state has a history of supporting Democratic presidential candidates, backing them in every election since 1992, except for former President George W. Bush’s 2000 victory. Joe Biden, the current U.S. President, also secured a win in the state in 2020, defeating Trump by seven percentage points.
Harris’ campaign positions the proposed tax credit as part of a larger plan to address affordability challenges for Americans, including expanding access to affordable housing and lowering prescription drug prices. This proposed tax deduction represents a tenfold increase over existing relief for new small businesses, which typically cost around $40,000 to establish.
The U.S. Treasury reported a significant increase in new business applications in 2024, with an average of 430,000 applications filed each month, reflecting a 50% rise compared to 2019, the last pre-COVID year of Trump’s presidency. Meanwhile, recent data released earlier this month indicates that annual inflation has slowed to below 3% in July, marking the first time it has dipped below this threshold in nearly 3.5 years.
