Kamala Harris Hits New Hampshire to Unveil ‘Ambitious’ Small Business Plan

By Matthew Medsger
Boston Herald
(TNS)

NORTH HAMPTON, N.H. — Vice President Kamala Harris made a surprise campaign stop in New Hampshire to announce a new policy proposal Wednesday, when she laid out an “ambitious” plan to get millions of small businesses started.

Harris, who noted there are only 62 days until the Nov. 5 general election, was in North Hampton at Throwback Brewery when she made the announcement. According to the vice president, her plan would open entrepreneurship to those currently excluded by the high cost of starting a new business.

“Now, I’m setting what I think some are going to call a very ambitious goal. But, you know what? I think we should admire ambition in each other,” she said. “So I want to see 25 million new small businesses applications by the end of my first term.”

Harris would accomplish this, she said, by lowering the cost of building a new enterprise. Right now, the vice president said, it costs about $40,000 to get the average small business off the ground, but that cost is only offset by a $5,000 tax deduction.

“That is a great financial barrier for a lot of folks, and it can hold entrepreneurs back,” she said. “Not everyone has access to that kind of wealth.”

Harris’ plan, she said, would increase that tax deduction tenfold.

“We will expand the tax deduction for start ups to $50,000,” she said. “It’s essentially a tax cut for starting a small business.”

Under a Harris-Walz administration, the government would also provide “low and no interest loans” to small businesses “that want to expand” and “cut the red tape that can make starting and growing a small business more difficult than it needs to be.”

“We will make it cheaper and easier for small businesses to file their taxes, similar to how individuals can take a standard deduction,” she said. “Let’s just take away some of the bureaucracy.”

According to Harris, the change would open opportunities to a new pool of American talent currently kept on the sidelines by their lack of wealth.

“It’s not that they don’t have the skills, it’s not that they don’t have the work ethic, it’s access to these resources,” she said.

Harris’ plan would require the support of Congress, which is responsible for adjusting the tax code.

According to former President Donald Trump’s campaign, New Hampshire voters should not be fooled by Harris’ turn toward the small business community.

“If Kamala wanted to help small businesses, why hasn’t she done it during her four years as vice president? Why has Kamala proudly supported Bidenomics, which has caused historic inflation and record-high energy costs for small businesses, minimizing their profit margins and threatening their livelihood?” Trump’s team said in a release.

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