In a recent clip that came out about the matter, MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle called out Vice President and 2024 Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris for not answering her all-important question on how the government and her plans to fund it would happen if the GOP controls the Senate, which is likely.
Particularly, Ruhle asked how Kamala plans to raise taxes to fund her expansive and expensive agenda if she is elected but the government is divided with the GOP in charge of the Senate or the legislature otherwise unwilling to go along with hiking taxes like the corporate rate, namely if she will borrow or scale back her plans.
Ruhle said, asking about the matter, “And expanding that child tax credit, or you mentioned housing before, giving that extra money for a first home, if you can’t raise corporate taxes, or if GOP takes control of the Senate, where do you get the money to do that? Do you still go forward with those plans and borrow?”
Kamala didn’t give an answer. She said that they’d “have to raise corporate taxes,” but didn’t explain how she would do so, saying, “Well, but we’re going to have to raise corporate taxes. And we’re going to have to raise — we’re going to have to make sure that the biggest corporations and billionaires pay their fair share.”
She continued, “That’s just it. It’s about paying their fair share. I am not mad at anyone for achieving success, but everyone should pay their fair share. And it is not right that the teachers and the firefighters that I meet every day across our country are paying a higher tax than the richest people in our country.”
Ruhle pressed again on the issues, noting that she still hadn’t said how she would make it happen in the first place. She asked, “Bill Gates just said it this week. If he was in charge of taxes, he would have paid more. But how do you find that line to make sure corporations are paying their fair share, but they’re not leaving our country?”
Kamala again rambled without giving a real answer, saying, in part, “Well, listen, I work with a lot of CEOs. I have spent a lot of time with CEOs. And I’m going to tell you that the business leaders who are actually part of the engine of America’s economy agree that people should pay their fair share. They also agree that, when we look at a plan such as mine, that is about investing in the middle class, investing in new industries, investing in bringing down costs, investing in entrepreneurs like small businesses, that the overall economy is stronger and everyone benefits. Part of my plan for the economy is investing in new industries in a way that we have active partnership with the private sector. I have worked with the private sector my entire career. I — even as vice president, working with some of the biggest banks and biggest tech companies to increase by billions of dollars the money going into community banks to increase access to capital for small businesses.”
Watch that here:
NEW: Kamala Harris gets stumped during her first solo sit-down interview since becoming the Democratic nominee.
Stephanie Ruhle: “If you can’t raise corporate taxes or if GOP takes control of the Senate, where do you get the money to do that?”
Harris: “Well, but we’re gonna… pic.twitter.com/lp951n3etd
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) September 25, 2024
After the interview, Ruhle appeared on “Deadline: White House.” During that appearance, Ruhle admitted that Harris “doesn’t answer the question” about raising taxes when she was asked directly about the matter, and so the issue remains unaddressed other than in therms of generalities without any real plan.
Speaking to her MSNBC colleague Nicolle Wallace on Deadline, Ruhle addressed the issue and what Kamala said, “If the GOP is controlling the Senate, if she can’t raise corporate taxes, where is she going to get the money from to expand the child tax credit and do whatever she wants to do. And she says, ‘we just have to do it.’”
Continuing, Ruhle said that the problem is that the issue of spending and the debt remains entirely unaddressed. She said, “That’s great and that’s a campaign promise, but the issue is, if it means we’re gonna just borrow again, then what we’re doing is we’re just never addressing the deficit. And back in the days when you were a proud Republican, debts and deficits matters.”
Ruhle then said, further expounding on the debt issue, “It’s like the American people have forgot or we no longer think debt and deficits matter. They will at some point as they balloon. She’s saying, ‘it doesn’t matter, we’re going full steam ahead.’ I mean, I don’t fault her for it because the American people aren’t prioritizing saying you have to focus on this. And as much as she is not focused on it, Donald Trump’s is not in a much bigger way. And that is the person that she’s running against.”
Watch her here:
Watch the smile on Nicole Wallace’s face melt away when Stephanie Ruhle says”she didn’t answer the question” pic.twitter.com/yVJGnhWOra
— John Bachman (@JohnFBachman) September 25, 2024
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video
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