With Taxes on the ballot of the 2024 Elections, here is what you need to know:

Provisions implemented in 2017 during the Trump administration are due to expire after 2025. President Donald Trump wants to make these laws permanent, whereas Vice President Kamala Harris is standing with her original pledge of: No tax hikes if you make less than $400,000 a year. If Harris gets her way, high-income individuals will pay much more in taxes because she would bring back the tax rate affecting the top 39.6% of the population (these are the individuals making $400,000 or more) and hike the current 3.8% net investment income surtax up to 5% for these taxpayers. 

What does this mean? This means the wealthy would pay more capital gains tax. Long-term capital gains tax would be imposed at ordinary tax rates up to 39.6%(44.6% with 5% NII tax added in) for taxpayers with taxable incomes over $1 million… $500,000 for separate filers. 

In addition, Vice President Kamala Harris may have similar ideas as President Biden to tax unrealized gains upon death. If passed, this proposal would treat an individual's death as a realization event for income tax purposes. Realization events are requirements in determining what must be included as income subject to taxation. This would treat death as a deemed taxable sale at fair market value, with capital gains and losses reported on the decedent's final income tax return ( with a $5 million lifetime gain exclusion). Many Supreme Court justices do not favor the idea of taxing unrealized gains, but if this provision is ever adopted, you can expect opponents to quickly sue.

With relations to the previous tax laws VP Harris plans to implement, her business tax proposals are to raise the 21% corporate tax rate to 28%, with aims to help the current problems this would actually be more detrimental to the government services (who in which the proposal is supposed to benefit) leading to lost wages and fewer opportunities for many workers according to the Tax Foundation.