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The race for the White House has become more exciting since President Joe Biden announced he would not seek re-election. Tax experts are closely examining both candidates’ legislative records to determine what each administration could mean for the accounting industry as a whole.

Former US President Donald Trump has announced changes for his second term that will be Abolition of taxes on social security contributions To Reduction of the corporate tax rate to 20% hoping to gain support from high-ranking voters and executives of some of the country’s largest companies.

Trump’s administration succeeded in reaching the milestone Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 during his term in office, which included a reduction in tax brackets, an increase in the child allowance and a new family allowance. This promoted investment activity abroad for multinational companies based in the USA by around 14%.

“Republicans will make permanent the provisions of the Trump Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that doubled the standard deduction, expanded the child tax credit, and boosted economic growth for all Americans,” the Republican Party Platform.

The platform also requires Abolition of the tax on tips in the catering and hotel sectors and elsewhere to further cuts.

Read more: RNC platform emphasizes tax cuts, border

Sunil Kansal, head of advisory and valuation services at London-based Shasat Consulting, said under a Trump administration the focus could shift “to maximizing the benefits of deregulation and tax cuts.”

“This is where accountants should focus on optimizing their tax strategies and staying abreast of potential changes in trade policies that could impact international transactions,” Kansal said.

While Harris and Trump agreed to abolish the taxation of tipsOtherwise, there was little overlap between the political priorities of the two candidates.

During her time as Attorney General, Senator of California, and in the White House, Harris has supported numerous initiatives that focused primarily on those earning less than $100,000 per year, including LIFT (Livable Incomes for Families Today—the Middle Class Act bill she proposed in 2018), the Rent Relief Act, her Medicare for All plan, and more.

The impact of increasing the refundability of the child tax credit on her proposed refundable tax credit could be an important part of Harris’s program, said Caroline Bruckner, a professor of tax law at American University’s Kogod School of Business and chief counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, in an interview with Accounting Today’s Roger Russell.

“The child tax credit is a real opportunity for them to tout the success of the refundable tax credit,” Bruckner said. “It was a key part of their 2019 tax proposal, and the Biden administration was actually able to accomplish that with the tax credit. There was a bipartisan proposal that passed the House earlier this year that would have expanded the tax credit.”

Read more: Trump and Harris duel for voters with budget-busting tax proposals

Below you will find detailed analyses of the potential impact of the upcoming presidential election on the accounting profession, as well as projections of what each candidate’s administration will contribute.