Reaching out to the working class, Republicans are now lining up behind a Trump-led effort to eliminate taxes on tipped wages.
The former president demanded the elimination of tip taxes at a rally in Las Vegas on June 9. Days later, he presented the idea to Republicans on Capitol Hill.
The idea will not become law under the current Congress, even as House and Senate Republicans have taken on Trump’s mantle.
Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., and Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., immediately endorsed the idea and introduced legislation in Congress.
But not all conservatives agree. Rep. Chip Roy wrote that Greene and Massie were “good friends” but that he “would need them to explain why we should treat low-wage, non-tipped people differently.”
Reaching out to the working class, Republicans are now lining up behind a Trump-led effort to eliminate taxes on tipped wages.
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimated the plan would cost between $150 billion and $250 billion in lost tax revenue.
In the Senate, Ted Cruz, R-Texas, spearheaded taxed tip legislation that won support from Sens. Rick Scott of Florida, Steve Daines of Montana and Kevin Cramer of North Dakota.
The plan would eliminate cash, credit and debit tip taxes by allowing those taxpayers to claim a 100 percent deduction.
The federal minimum has remained stuck at $7.25 since 2009, but tipped workers can earn as little as $2.13 before tips.
Under current tax law, tipped wages are treated the same as regular payroll wages, but cash tips are often not reported to the government.
The proposal could also prompt more companies to ask customers to tip their workers at a time when many Americans feel “tip fatigue.”
Democratic strategist Tim Hogan told DailyMail.com of the proposal: “During his time in office, Trump attempted to implement a proposal that would have resulted in waiters doing more non-tipped work at a lower wage.” He opposed raising the minimum wage. He ripped off contractors left and right. He is not on the side of the workers. It’s another case where his rhetoric doesn’t match reality.
The Trump administration implemented a rule allowing restaurants to take tips earned by servers and share them with non-tipped employees, such as cooks and dishwashers. but some critics noted it did not require employers to redistribute the tips they collected.
Trump had other big ideas that may never become law in his meetings with House Republicans. He suggested eliminating the federal income tax and replacing it with tariffs on imported goods.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that there are 2.4 waiters and waitresses who rely on tips for income nationwide.
Nevada has the highest concentration of tipped workers in the country, with about 25.8 waiters and waitresses per 1,000 jobs, followed by Hawaii and Florida.
Democrats have insisted the proposal is a way for Trump to try to take Nevada’s lead in the November election.
“I think that has more to do with the Electoral College in Nevada than any other policy that’s been looked at,” Rep. Richard Neal of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the House tax committee, told the Huffington Post.
President Biden won Nevada by 2.39 percent in 2020 and Republicans see it as one of the top states in play this year in both the presidential and Senate elections.
Nevada Republican Senate candidate Sam Brown said earlier this month that Trump “got him”: It was his idea to eliminate the tip tax.
“Those tips are not guaranteed income, people work hard for them,” Brown told NBC.
“The hotel workers and the people who receive tips are going to be very happy, because when I get into office we are not going to tax the tips, the people who earn tips,” Trump had said at the Las Vegas rally. Vegas. “We’re going to do it right away, the first thing we do in office.”
Lael Brainard, a top Biden White House adviser, told reporters last week that Biden has other ideas to help Nevada wage earners.
‘Our view is that the significant set of policy changes that would truly improve the living standards of workers in Nevada and across the country would be to raise the minimum wage and eliminate the tipped minimum wage, which would generate $6,000 more in income per year. anus. ‘ she said.
Tax issues will be a major factor in this election: Trump’s 2017 tax cuts expire in 2025 and Republicans are laying the groundwork for a new tax plan if they are successful in the election.
