The Harris campaign maintains Biden administration promise. Vice President Kamala Harris told PoliticoFriday that as President she too would not raise taxes on anybody earning less than $400,000 a year. The promise could complicate efforts to expand government programs without adding to deficits. 

Speaking of taxes paid… TaxNotes’ Joe Thorndike reviews (paywall) the 20 years of tax returns released by presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Harris. The fact of their release, Thorndike notes, demonstrates Harris’s and the Democratic party’s commitment to transparency, while the returns themselves “seem to reflect a cautious regard for public perceptions.” As a married couple, Kamala Harris and her spouse Doug Emhoff have paid effective tax rates ranging from 19.7 percent in 2023 to 38.3 percent in 2019.

In Washington State, tax incentives run afoul of carbon-neutral goal. Washington produces a quarter of the nation’s hydropower, but state data show it receives a smaller share of its electricity from renewable sources than it did two decades ago. The state is requiring electric utilities to be carbon-neutral by 2030 through legislation passed in 2019. ProPublica reports on Washington’s generous tax incentives designed to promote the growth of power-guzzling, job-creating data centers. Some counties, now home to data centers, may soon have to choose between following the 2019 green energy law, or risk rolling blackouts. 

More on renewable energy: Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, in her address at an Inter-American Development Bank event, called the shift to a low-carbon global economy “the single greatest opportunity of the 21st century.” She stressed the importance of stronger climate finance policies through 2050 to address the “existential threat” to communities and economic strain posed by climate change, reports Politico. She also credited the Inflation Reduction Act for directing hundreds of billions of dollars toward investment in clean energy technologies. 

And on Capitol Hill: Electric vehicles. The Senate Budget Committee will hold a hearing on the future of electric vehicles on Wednesday. 

For the latest tax news, subscribe to the Tax Policy Center’s Daily Deduction. Sign up here to have it delivered to your inbox weekdays at 8:00 am (Mondays only when Congress is in recess). We welcome tips on new research or other news. Email Renu Zaretsky.