Nikki Haley rolls out economic plan to undo Bidenomics, slash government
Presidential hopeful Nikki Haley — aiming to rip apart President Biden’s marquee economic achievements and usher in a new era of government-slashing — is rolling out her economic agenda Friday.
Dubbing it the “Freedom Plan,” Haley, during a speech in New Hampshire, intends to call for less middle-class taxes, government spending, deficits, and federal government in general.
In advance of the policy unveiling, the former South Carolina governor and US ambassador to the United Nations teased plans to eliminate the federal gas tax, which can rake in somewhere around $40 billion annually of the over-$6 trillion budget, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
“It’s a small portion of what actually goes to pave roads and of that portion, a lot of it goes to bike trails and hiking trails and things like that. The Highway Trust Fund hasn’t been solvent in years,” Haley previewed on Fox Business this week.
“You also help families that are suffering from inflation.”
In general, Haley’s economic agenda is a full grab bag of conservative goodies and wish-list items.
Her tax plan features a call to slash middle-class income tax rates; take aim at loopholes like the state and local income tax — pared significantly under the Trump administration — and provide tax relief for small businesses.
Having worked as an accountant, Haley, 51, has long sought to portray herself as a steward of fiscal responsibility.
She’s pledging to veto any budget that “doesn’t take our country back to pre-COVID-19 spending levels.” Government spending has exploded since the outbreak of the pandemic, partly fueled by red-hot inflation.
To tame the rapid growth of federal outlays, Haley wants to impose a cap on spending relative to the size of the economy and enact so-called zero-based budgeting, where all expenses must be justified.
If Congress fails to pass a budget, she wants lawmakers’ pay withheld.
Additionally, she’s calling for entitlement reform and the elimination of Biden’s $500 billion green energy subsidies, many of which come from tax breaks.
“It’s not difficult to cut spending. You have to want to do it. Congress has been lazy for a long time,” Haley said during a preview of her economic agenda.
“As president, I will stop the spending. I will eliminate the earmarks. I’ll stop the borrowing, and I’ll veto any spending bill that doesn’t take us back to pre-COVID level,” she vowed.
In tandem with her government reduction objectives, Haley wants to turbocharge economic growth via “an all-of-the-above energy plan that makes America energy dominant.”
Many 2024 GOP candidates, like biotechnology entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, have called growth a key method to reduce the deficit.
And to claw back government broadly, Haley is pitching term limits for bureaucrats and politicians.
She also wants to ship a trove of federal programs back to the different states and pass the REINS Act, which aims to give Congress more power over administrative rule-making and regulations — legislation that has long been a key objective of many conservatives.
Haley appeared to enjoy a slight bump in a medley of polling after the first 2024 GOP debate.
She is now in fourth place with 4.9% support in the latest RealClearPolitics aggregate.
