Donors Quietly Push Harris to Drop Tax on Ultrawealthy

Vice President Kamala Harris’s fund-raising has benefited from a surge of interest from Silicon Valley and Wall Street.

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In her speech at the Democratic National Convention last week, Vice President Harris said she would create an “opportunity economy” and provide support to entrepreneurs and “founders.”

Donors to Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign are pushing her to reconsider supporting a proposed tax on the wealthiest Americans, as some Wall Street and Silicon Valley executives try to reshape the Democratic nominee’s governing agenda.

Ms. Harris’s campaign last week said she supported the tax increases included in President Biden’s latest White House budget proposal. One of those plans would require Americans worth at least $100 million to pay taxes on investment gains even if they have not sold the stocks, bonds or other assets that have appreciated.

Under the plan, those Americans would owe a 25 percent tax on a combination of their regular income, like wages, and so-called unrealized gains. The so-called billionaire minimum income tax could create hefty tax bills for wealthy individuals who derive much of their wealth from the stocks and other assets they own.

The proposal has hit a nerve with some of the donors who have flocked to supporting Ms. Harris after Mr. Biden dropped out of the presidential race, according to seven people familiar with the conversations.

Some have directed their complaints to the campaign’s advisers and top allies in the business community who are perceived to be in her inner circle. At least one top donor close to Ms. Harris has raised the issue with her in a private conversation, encouraging her to instead tax the ability of the ultrawealthy to borrow against their wealth.

Allies and staff of Ms. Harris have defended the plan to business leaders in private conversations, explaining that the tax would apply to only a small slice of wealthy Americans and could be delayed for investments that are not easily sold, according to the people familiar with the conversations.

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