CBS News is verifying some of the statements made by speakers during the 2024 Democratic National Convention this week, which runs in Chicago through Thursday, August 22.
On Thursday, the final night of the convention, Vice President Kamala Harris will accept her party’s nomination and deliver her speech.
CBS News’ Confirmed team is doing fact checking this week. CBS News reports on the DNC live.
Fact checking Harris’ claim that Trump’s tariff plan will cost families nearly $4,000 a year: Partly true, context needed
Vice President Kamala Harris: “[Trump] plans to implement some kind of national sales tax, call it a Trump tax, that would raise prices for middle-class families by nearly $4,000 a year.”
Details: Harris cites an estimate of the potential costs if former President Donald Trump were to impose tariffs on imported goods. Trump has advocated for at least a 10% tariff on most imports and at least a 60% tariff on Chinese imports.
Estimates of the potential costs and likely size of the tariffs vary. An analysis by the Center for American Progress Action, a progressive policy think tank, estimated that a 20% tariff on most imports, combined with a 60% tax on Chinese goods, would amount to a tax increase of about $3,900 a year for middle-income families.
The Tax Policy Center (TPC), an independent think tank, estimates that a 10% global tariff and a 60% tariff on Chinese goods would reduce average net income by about $1,800 in 2025.
Economists told CBS News that ordinary consumers would bear the burden of higher import tariffs through higher prices for goods, effectively a tax on products made in other countries. In an interview with The New York Times, Robert Lighthizer, who was Trump’s chief negotiator and still advises his campaign on trade issues, suggested that the burden on American households could be offset by tax cuts.
By Emma Li
Fact Checking Harris’ Claim That Trump Would Give Billionaires More Tax Breaks, Adding $5 Trillion to the National Debt: Misleading
Haris: “[Trump] “He’s not really fighting for the middle class. Instead, he’s fighting for himself and his billionaire friends. And he’s going to give them another round of tax breaks that will add $5 trillion to the national debt.”
Details:During his presidential campaign, Trump proposed broad tax cuts for high-income earners and other taxpayers.
In 2017, Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which permanently cut corporate taxes and lowered individual tax rates for most households.
According to estimates from the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation and Congress’ Tax Policy Center, the majority of the population would benefit from these tax cuts.
Trump has said he wants to extend the individual tax rate cuts before they expire in 2025. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the measure could cost $4.6 trillion over the next decade.
The Biden-Harris administration has suggested extending some Trump-era tax cuts for families with annual incomes below $400,000.
Trump has also called for other tax cuts, including the abolition of taxes on tipsa policy proposal also supported by Harris.
By Laura Doan
Fact check on Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey’s claim that Democrats have maximized insulin costs for millions of Americans: True, but context needed
Democratic Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania: “When Big Pharma raised the cost of insulin, we passed a bill to stop it. Now it’s capped at $35 a month for millions of Americans.”
Details: In 2022, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act, which requires all Medicare Part D and Part B plans to cap monthly costs for covered insulin products at $35.
Previously, the Trump administration introduced a more limited voluntary program that allowed some Medicare Part D plans to cap copayments for certain insulin products at $35 per month. Health policy research website KFF noted that less than half of all Part D plans participated in the Trump program. More than 800,000 insulin users had access to the $35 insulin cap in 2022 under the Trump-era program, but after Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act, many more insulin users on Medicare Part D — 3.4 million — saw their insulin costs capped in 2023, according to estimates from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
By Emma Li, Laura Doan and Amelia Donhauser
