Last month, Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) introduced her tax plan, the LIFT the Middle Class Act. This bill aims to give monthly payments to Americans who qualify in the form of a tax credit. Penn Wharton Budget Model has analyzed the potential impact of the LIFT Act on the budget and effective marginal tax rates. We find the proposal would cost the federal government approximately $3.1 trillion over the ten-year budget window and an additional $3.7 trillion over the following decade. Other organizations have reached similar conclusions.
The Washington Post’s Jeff Stein discusses the potential influence of the LIFT credit. A study by the Tax Policy Center finds that most of the benefits from the LIFT Act would go to middle-class Americans.