Walz and Vance Could Clash Over Taxes And Inflation At Vice Presidential Debate

Voters will get a second and possibly final chance to see the economic policies argued head-to-head Tuesday night when vice presidential candidates meet in a televised debate.

Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz and his Republican opponent, JD Vance, are scheduled to debate at 9 p.m. Eastern time on CBS. The debate could cover some of the same economic ground as the one between Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump in September, which highlighted the two candidates’ different philosophies for the country.

No further debates have been scheduled, meaning Tuesday’s debate could be the last time the two campaigns simultaneously present their cases to voters.

Harris and Walz have called for higher taxes on the wealthy, tax cuts for lower and middle-income earners, and the construction of more affordable housing. Trump and Vance’s economic agenda focuses on massively raising tariffs on foreign trade, extending the 2017 tax cuts that largely benefitted the wealthy, and deporting millions of immigrants.

Tariffs

Trump has called for massively raising tariffs, the taxes imposed on goods being shipped to the U.S. from foreign countries. He has called for new tariffs of 60% or more on Chinese goods, and a tax of up to 20% on imports from other countries. In a column Tuesday for Newsweek, Trump said the plan would create prosperity for American workers.

“​​Here’s the deal that I will be offering to companies and manufacturers around the planet: The United States will give you the lowest taxes, the lowest energy costs, the lowest regulatory burdens, and free access to the best and biggest market on the planet—but only if you make your products here in America and hire American workers for the job,” he wrote.

“If these companies don’t take the deal, they’ll pay a tariff when they send their products—made in another country—to us. And we will use the hundreds of billions of tariff dollars to benefit American citizens.”

The Harris campaign has attacked Trump’s tariff plan, citing analyses by many mainstream economists who say tariffs would harm consumers and the economy in numerous ways.

Inflation

One of the biggest economic issues for households—inflation—came up early in the presidential debate, and could figure in to the vice presidential debate as well. Trump attacked Harris and her boss, President Joe Biden, for the inflation that surged starting in late 2021, driving up prices for groceries and other essentials.

Though the inflation rate has since dwindled from its peak in mid-2022, consumers are still paying higher prices.

Trump and Vance blamed Biden’s economic policies, including spending on green energy projects, for increasing cost-of-living. Harris has blamed corporate greed for the spate of price increases and promised a federal ban on price gouging for groceries, among other economic policies aimed at reducing costs for essentials such as medicine and housing.

Several economic analyses have found the COVID-19 pandemic itself was mostly to blame for the surge of inflation by disrupting global supply chains.

Taxes

The Harris/Walz and Trump/Vance campaigns have released a flurry of tax proposals, including several that overlap. Both campaigns have proposed ending income taxes on tips and expanding the child tax credit.

The two campaigns might clash over taxes, especially what to do about the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the tax cut bill Trump signed into law in 2017. Harris has proposed rolling back many of its tax cuts, which are set to expire in 2025, while Trump wants to extend them. 

She has also proposed a tax on the unrealized capital gains of households that have $100 million or more in wealth—a policy that Trump has called “the craziest idea.”