Democratic megadonors know Vice President Kamala Harris’s policies are not yet set and are looking to shape her economic plan, the New York Times reported Thursday.
"[Harris] focuses on her values and is not an ideologue about any particular program. From what I’ve been told, everything is on the table. Nothing’s been decided yet," billionaire venture capitalist Mark Cuban said.
Cuban’s comment comes as wealthy Democratic donors push Harris to reconsider her support for tax hikes that target America’s ultra-wealthy. The proposed "billionaire minimum income tax" would require Americans with a net worth of at least $100 million to pay a 25 percent tax on a combination of their regular income and investment gains—even if the assets haven’t been sold.
Aaron Levie, a millionaire entrepreneur who donated $30,000 to the Harris campaign and said he plans to give more, said that he and other Silicon Valley leaders he talked with viewed the tax proposal as "quite punitive" but believed that Harris may be willing to change.
"There’s optimism that this can’t possibly be real," Levie said. "Most people are waiting to hear from the Harris campaign. Is this a real proposal that is actually being pushed for—or was this something that was inherited from Biden?"
A Harris campaign adviser said that while the Democratic nominee supports the "billionaire minimum tax," she is open to other ways for raising taxes on wealthy Americans. Campaign spokesman Charles Lutvak in a statement said Harris believes that "billionaires and large corporations should pay their fair share in taxes."
Democratic billionaires, meanwhile, are increasingly leveraging their influence on Harris as they flood her campaign with cash. Last month, Democratic megadonor Reid Hoffman—a former associate of child molester Jeffrey Epstein—pledged $10 million to help elect Harris, and then urged her to fire a top federal official who has been investigating some of his business ventures.