CNN —
Vice President Kamala Harris joined CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Wednesday night to take to a town hall in the battleground state of Pennsylvania to talk with persuasive voters who still have less than two weeks until Americans head to the polls on Election Day. He directly faced questions from undecided voters. Former President Donald Trump was also invited, but declined to participate in the CNN town hall.
Here’s a fact check of some of Harris’ statements:
Vice President Kamala Harris says former President Donald Trump plans to introduce a “domestic sales tax of at least 20% on everyday goods and essentials,” which would cost American consumers an additional $4,000 a year. He said it would be a burden.
Facts First: This argument is reasonable enough, but it’s worth explaining that Harris is referring to Trump’s proposal to introduce new tariffs if she returns to the White House.
President Trump has repeatedly said he plans to impose flat tariffs of 10% or 20% on all imports into the United States, and 60% or more on all imports from China. He also suggested imposing 100% or 200% tariffs on Mexican-made cars and products from companies that move manufacturing from the U.S. to Mexico.
According to the liberal Center for Progressive Action Funds, the 20% flat tariff and the 60% tariff on Chinese goods would amount to about $3,900 a year in increased taxes for middle-income households. tank.
If the 20% tariff were only 10%, as President Trump has sometimes suggested, the total impact on middle-class households could be $2,500 a year, according to CAP.
Another study estimates that Trump’s proposed tariffs would also increase prices for families, but by a lower amount. The Peterson Institute for International Economics estimates that the new mandate will cost the average middle-class household about $1,700 a year. And the Tax Policy Center said the impact could be $1,350 a year for middle-income households.
From CNN’s Katie Lobosco
In an exchange with CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Wednesday, while campaigning as a 2020 vice presidential candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris said, “No, Anderson, I vowed not to ban fracking. ” he said.
Facts first: This is false. Harris did not clarify her personal position on fracking in her only debate of 2020, the general election vice presidential debate against then-Vice President Mike Pence. Harris never explicitly stated her personal position on hydraulic fracturing during the debate.
In fact, she said Joe Biden, the top Democrat at the time, would not ban fracking even if he were elected president. “Joe Biden will not stop fracking,” Harris said during the 2020 vice presidential debate. “I repeat, the American people know, Joe Biden will not ban fracking.” .
During the 2019 Democratic presidential primary, Harris addressed her views on fracking early in the election cycle, going so far as to say, “There’s no question that I support banning fracking.” Ta.
It’s no surprise that Harris was referring to Biden’s plan at the time, given that the president determines the direction of the administration. However, contrary to her claims on Wednesday, none of her comments in the 2020 debate revealed that she personally held a different view on the subject than the previous year.
From CNN’s Daniel Dale and Ella Nilsen
During a CNN town hall with Kamala Harris on Wednesday, the vice president claimed that only 2% of the U.S.-Mexico border wall was built during former President Donald Trump’s administration.
“How much of that wall did he build? I think the last number I looked at was about 2 percent,” she said.
Facts First: This claim is exaggerated. Approximately 52 miles of “new primary wall” and approximately 33 miles of “new secondary wall” were constructed during the Trump era, according to a 2021 report from the U.S. Customer and Border Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers. Ta. More than 370 miles of broken or dilapidated primary and secondary walls were also replaced.
During his campaign and throughout his presidency, Trump pledged to build walls ranging in length from 1,000 miles to more than 500 miles. Using the 2021 report’s “New Major Walls” numbers, we can estimate that 5.2% of his 1,000-mile promise has been met, or 10.4% of his 500-mile goal has been completed.
Harris’ running mate, Gov. Tim Walz, made similar claims during the CBS vice presidential debate earlier this month.
The entire U.S.-Mexico border is approximately 3,000 miles. The 52 miles of new primary wall represents 2.6% of the total length, but as CNN previously reported, President Trump has promised to build more wall instead of building new walls along the entire southern border. Ta.
From CNN’s Piper Hudspeth Blackburn
Vice President Kamala Harris has accused her opponent, former President Donald Trump, of introducing policies that favored the wealthy during his first term.
“When Donald Trump was president, he gave tax cuts to the wealthiest people, billionaires, big corporations,” she said during a CNN town hall.
Facts First: This claim requires context. According to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that Harris is referring to benefited the wealthy far more than the rest of the population, but did not result in tax cuts for the vast majority of Americans. It became.
The 2017 law made a number of changes to the tax code, including temporarily lowering many individual income tax rates, particularly the top tax rate for high earners, from 39.6% to 37%.
The Tax Policy Center considered who this law would best benefit. The results showed that taxes would decrease on average across all income groups.
According to the analysis, middle-income taxpayers with incomes between about $49,000 and $86,000 can expect to see an average tax cut of about $800, or 1.4% of their after-tax income.
Still, more than 60% of the benefits were expected to go to the top 20% of earners. More than 40% of the benefits were expected to go to the top 5% of people.
The center estimates that people earning between $500,000 and $1 million a year would see an average tax cut of about $21,000, or a 4.3% increase in their after-tax income. People earning more than $1 million would receive an average tax cut of about $70,000, increasing their after-tax income by 3.3%.
Only just over a quarter of households with the lowest incomes will see their taxes reduced. Their average tax reduction will be about $200. However, in most cases there is little or no benefit.
From CNN’s Tami Luby
