(This column originally appeared in The Hill)
Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party are not socialists or anti-capitalists. The party supports the free market and the ability to profit. But there’s little debate that she and her party favor policies that would significantly affect businesses and those they call the “wealthy.”
Harris and her party want to raise the corporate tax rate to 28 percent. They want to allow the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act to expire, which means many provisions that favor wealthier individuals — such as higher estate exemptions and lower individual rates — would become less favorable. They want to impose additional income, capital gains and unrealized gains taxes on those who have millions in assets and income, as well as push further environmental, labor, trade and other regulations that would negatively impact their businesses.
According to a recent Forbes report “among the financiers reportedly backing Harris are billionaires Jonathan Gray, president of asset manager Blackstone, Marc Lasry of credit investment firm Avenue Capital Management and hedge fund baron George Soros, while billionaires a degree removed from Wall Street supporting Harris include media magnate Barry Diller and construction tycoon Bob Clark.
Other major finance figures reportedly behind Harris include bank Lazard’s CEO and President Peter Orszag and Ray McGuire, tech-focused investment bank Evercore ISI cofounder Roger Altman and Robert Rubin, Goldman Sachs’ former co-chairman and the U.S. Treasury secretary during the Clinton administration.”
Harris hasn’t exactly been a friend to these people.
Forbes reports, “as California attorney general, she earned about $20 billion more for homeowners in a 2012 settlement with big banks for their mishandling of mortgages during the financial crisis” and that “perhaps her most relevant action in her four years in the Senate was her 2019 sponsorship of a ‘Accountability for Wall Street Executives Act’ bill which would have allowed state prosecutors to subpoena bank records to investigate financial fraud.”
Her support isn’t limited to Wall Street. Hollywood superstars, CEOs of giant corporations and billionaire tech entrepreneurs are also on her side.
Why? Why would these people support a presidential candidate and party that would so obviously cost them so much? But it’s not such a mystery when you think about it. Most are doing so for one of three reasons.
The first is certainty. Harris may support policies that would be detrimental to many businesses, but they know what to expect. Over the course of history, businesses have operated under countless political leaders who have worked against their interests, so this is nothing new. Corporations and wealthy individuals have the resources to navigate through less than supportive times and political administrations, be it changing their priorities or simply by paying off those politicians and lobbyists who can represent their interests in Washington.
What Harris brings, however, is less uncertainty. Her opponent, former President Trump, is a loose cannon. He’s unpredictable. He’s vengeful, vindictive and sometimes unruly. Businesses — and the wealthy people who own them — don’t like unpredictability. They, like the rest of us, strive for more certainty.
Harris has many flaws, but it’s pretty easy to see what you’ll be getting if you get her. That makes it easier to budget, plan and manage.
Another reason the wealthy may support Harris is because her economic policies align with their business interests. Her party supports more environmental actions, more investment in education and social services, more laws protecting workers and more investment in certain industries like chip manufacturing, construction and real estate. If your business operates or invests in these areas, you would want to get behind her candidacy because you can make more money.
If you’re a CEO or a wealthy investor, you may not like a candidate or you may have concerns over the macro effects of their policies on national debt, deficits, interest rates and inflation. But in the end, your interest is with your business. Not just because you’re selfish (and that’s OK too) but because the more your business succeeds, the more your employees and the small businesses and other companies that depend on your organization for their livelihoods also prosper.
Finally, there are many of wealthy individuals who are always going to be wealthy regardless of who’s sitting in the White House. Go ahead, they say, increase taxes and impose your penalties. I’ve got billions. These things aren’t going to affect my lifestyle one bit. When you can say that, it means that you can make personal choices that don’t necessarily have anything to do with your business or investing interests.
Maybe you’re a strong supporter of abortion or gay rights, or you believe that Harris’s approach to resolving the conflict in the Middle East aligns more closely to your thinking, or you think (yes) that the wealthy should be paying more in taxes. You’re putting your personal preferences above your professional interests because you can.
There are other reasons why a wealthy person, a Wall Street banker or a CEO would support Harris and the Democrats. Maybe they’re covering all bases and diversifying their largesse in the hopes of keeping both sides happy with them. Or maybe they’re “never-Trumpers” regardless of anything else. Or they simply like her.
Everyone has reasons for who they vote for, even if those reasons seem to significantly conflict with their personal and professional interests.
