Former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, criticized Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, on the 11th after she pledged to exempt tips from taxes, saying, “She has no ideas, she can only steal my ideas.”
In a post on his social media site, Truth Social, the former President said, “Harris, who is struggling in the polls after her honeymoon (with the media, etc.), copied my ‘no tax on tips’ policy.” He said, “The difference (with me) is that she won’t implement it (tax exemption on tips),” and “Remember, Harris proposed the largest tax increase in history.” The Trump presidential campaign also released a statement that day, criticizing that “copycat Harris plagiarized former President Trump’s tip exemption policy.” They continued, “This case contradicts the radical Biden-Harris administration’s desire to collect more taxes on tips,” and argued that “the Biden administration implemented a new program through the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) last year to collect more taxes on tips.” They then asked, “If you want to eliminate the tip tax, why don’t you do it now as part of this administration?”
Former President Trump previously pledged to “eliminate tips” during a campaign rally in Nevada in June. Vice President Harris also proposed the same policy as a campaign pledge during a campaign rally in Nevada the day before. Nevada, a southern battleground state, is home to cities such as Las Vegas and is an important place for service industry voters.
The tip tax exemption policy is a priority for Nevada’s influential Culinary Workers Union, the New York Times reported. However, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB), a bipartisan organization, said in June that if the tip tax exemption is implemented, government revenue could decrease by $150 billion to $250 billion over 10 years starting in fiscal year 2026.
If the tax exemption policy is implemented, the amount included in nontaxable tips by employers and employees instead of taxable wages could increase the decrease in government revenue, the CRFB said.
In relation to this, the Harris presidential campaign said on this day, “If Vice President Harris is elected, she will work with Congress to create a (policy) proposal with an income limit,” and “she will also prevent hedge fund managers and lawyers from structuring their wages in a way that exploits this policy.”