Kamala Harris is pro-business, Mark Cuban says

Vice President Kamala Harris is looking to be a business-friendly presidential candidate, at least when compared with President Joe Biden.

Billionaire businessman Mark Cuban said in an interview with CNBC Thursday that Harris, despite trying to remain respectful of Biden as she campaigns for the upcoming election, is a markedly different candidate from the current president.

“Kamala Harris is pro-business,” Cuban said. “This is Kamala Harris’ campaign, it’s not Joe Biden’s campaign.”

When it comes to business, “she’s going center 100%,” he added.

Although Harris is “starting from the Biden plan as a starting point,” Cuban said, “that’s not necessarily her ending point.”

On Wednesday, the Democratic presidential hopeful unveiled a proposed 28% tax on long-term capital gains for households making $1 million or more a year — the top 0.3% of all households in the country. That falls well below the 39.6% rate Biden laid out in his 2025 fiscal year budget. These tax plans would levy a charge when investors profit profit from the sale of capital assets, like stocks or bond.s

Biden had also proposed a minimum tax on unrealized capital gains, or unsold assets that have increased in value. That is where Biden and Harris’ policies diverge even further, according to Cuban.

Cuban underscored that under Harris, “it’s not going to happen.” He said that in several discussions with the Harris campaign, they have underscored that that is not the direction the vice president is looking to head in.

“I’m not going to speak for the vice president, she makes the final decision,” Cuban told CNBC. “I’m talking to these folks three, four times a week, having back-and-forth conversations, and their verbatim words to me is, ‘That’s not where we want to go.’”

Harris would also push to raise the corporate tax rate to 28% from its current 21%, Harris campaign spokesman James Singer told NBC News last month — in contrast with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s promises to lower the rate.

The vice president’s economic plan includes proposals to restore the expanded Child Tax Credit, create a new tax credit that would give low-income or middle-income families with a newborn child $6,000, and slash taxes by up to $1,500 for low-income individuals. She has also pledged to take aim at high prescription drug prices, expensive grocery bills, and Wall Street’s homebuying spree.

Goldman Sachs said in a research note that a Harris victory and Democratic sweep would be a boon to the U.S. economy, thanks to new spending and tax credits aimed at middle-income Americans.

— Will Gavin contributed to this article.