“One of my highest priorities will be to strengthen America’s small businesses. And here I am in New Hampshire to announce a few elements of my plan to do that,” Harris said at the women-owned Throwback Brewery in North Hampton.

Chief among the ambitious proposals Harris announced was a tenfold expansion of the small business tax deduction for startup expenses, from $5,000 to $50,000, along with setting a goal of 25 million new small business applications in her first four years of office and cutting burdensome red tape for entrepreneurs. These initiatives will help business owners who face the average cost of starting a business at $40,000.

“My plan will help existing small businesses grow. We will provide low and no-interest loans to small businesses that want to expand,” Harris continued. “And we will, and this is very important, cut the red tape that can make starting and growing a small business more difficult than it needs to be.”

The initiatives are part of the vice president’s Opportunity Economy strategy as she ramps up her attacks against former President Donald Trump in a bid to win middle-class voters. Harris has sought to portray herself as the champion of the average voter while branding Trump as the crony of the billionaire class, which she echoed in New Hampshire.

She previewed raising the capital gains tax but at a smaller increase than President Joe Biden had once outlined, which would have nearly doubled the top rate to 44.6%.

“My plan will make our tax code more fair while also prioritizing investment and innovation. So let us be clear: Billionaires and big corporations must pay their fair share in taxes,” Harris said as the crowd applauded. “We will tax capital gains at a rate that rewards investment in America’s innovators, founders, and small businesses. So here’s the detail: If you earn a million dollars a year or more, the tax rate on your long-term capital gains will be 28%.”

Harris then slammed Trump for his wishes to extend the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, cut off federal programs that give loans to small businesses, and explode the national deficit.

She also moved into well-worn territory and blasted Trump over his comments to overturn the Affordable Care Act, his indirect work that helped overturn Roe v. Wade, and the conservative wish list, Project 2025, during a potential second Trump term.

Harris also commented on the fatal shooting in Winder, Georgia, which has left at least four people dead, and offered her condolences. The vice president called for the end of “this epidemic of gun violence” but did not call for any changes to the Second Amendment.

“So before I begin, I do want to say a few words about this tragic shooting that took place this morning in Winder, Georgia. We’re still gathering information about what happened. But we know that there were multiple fatalities and injuries,” said Harris.

“And you know, our hearts are with all the students, the teachers, and their families, of course, and we are grateful to the first responders and law enforcement that were on the scene,” Harris continued. “But this is just a senseless tragedy on top of so many senseless tragedies, and it’s just outrageous that every day in our country in the United States of America that parents have to send their children to school, worried about whether or not their child will come home alive.”

In the run-up to the election, Harris’s visit to New Hampshire marks a departure from the focus on the seven battleground states. But it is an acknowledgment that Harris is taking no state for granted.

“And I’m going to tell you what you already know: This race is going to be tight until the very end,” Harris cautioned. “So, please, let’s not pay too much attention to the polls because we are running as the underdog. We know what they’re capable of on the other side.”

The Trump campaign slammed Harris’s policies even before she had arrived in the Granite State.

“If Kamala wanted to help small businesses, why hasn’t she done it during her four years as vice president?” the Trump campaign asked in an email sent out early Wednesday morning.

The campaign also included testimonials from New Hampshire business owners who attacked Harris’s policies.

“We, as true Americans, have an opportunity to save our country with a Trump presidency. The choice has never been clearer. This is communism versus freedom,” said Tom Moulton, a small business owner of SleepNet Corporation in Hampton, New Hampshire.

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley also slammed Harris’s visit in a statement Wednesday afternoon.

“Dangerously liberal Kamala Harris wants to win over small business owners in longtime blue state New Hampshire, but she has already failed them with her weak and dishonest record,” said Whatley. “On top of Harris’s pledge to eliminate President Trump’s tax cuts, Harris’ tiebreaking vote on the Inflation Reduction Act spurred historic inflation and record-high prices that have decimated small businesses in New Hampshire and across the country.”