Vice President Kamala Harris pledged Saturday to eliminate taxes on tipped wages for service workers, matching a proposal from former President Donald Trump.
During a rally in Las Vegas she held alongside her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Harris praised the work of the Culinary Workers Union, which endorsed her Friday, and vowed to continue to support policies that would benefit the union’s workers.
“When I am president, we will continue our fight for working families of America, including to raise the minimum wage, and eliminate taxes on tips for service and hospitality workers,” Harris said.
Following up on her comments at the Las Vegas rally, a Harris campaign official clarified that her push for to eliminate taxes on tips would require legislation. If elected president, Harris would work with Congress to craft a proposal that mandated an income limit and applied strict requirements to prevent hedge fund managers and lawyers from structuring their compensation to take advantage of the policy.
Harris would push the proposal with an increase in the minimum wage, as well, the official said.
In response to Harris’ remarks, Trump accused her of stealing his proposed policy in a post to his Truth Social platform.
“Kamala Harris, whose ‘Honeymoon’ period is ENDING, and is starting to get hammered in the Polls, just copied my NO TAXES ON TIPS Policy,” he wrote. He added that she mentioned the proposal only for “Political Purposes.”
“This was a TRUMP idea,” he said. “She can only steal from me.”
Trump announced a policy proposal to eliminate taxes on tips at a June rally in Las Vegas. Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt did not offer specifics about the proposal at the time; she told NBC News in an email in June that Trump would “ask Congress to eliminate taxes on tips.”
Several congressional Republicans have introduced bills to exempt tip income following Trump’s policy announcement. Trump’s campaign pitch, however, had drawn mixed reactions from Republicans, with some expressing skepticism of the idea because of the rising national debt and uncertainty over whether it’s fair to workers who don’t receive tips.
Some restaurant workers and advocates also had lukewarm reactions to Trump’s proposal, saying they prefer increases in base wages to eliminating taxes on tips, NBC News reported.
A Yale University analysis of a bill led by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, called the “No Tax on Tips Act,” found that it would affect only an estimated 2.5% of the workforce and 5% of workers in the bottom 25% of earners.
Asked whether Harris would support Republican-led bills to exempt tip income, a Harris campaign official reiterated that eliminating taxes on tips would require legislation and that Harris, if elected, would work with Congress to craft a proposal about the policy.
Asked in June about Trump’s proposal, Lael Brainard, director of the White House National Economic Council, pointed to restrictions on political activity by West Wing officials that are outlined in the Hatch Act.
Brainard also told reporters in a June call that President Joe Biden, whose re-election campaign was active at the time, has “fought for real solutions that actually address workers’ legitimate need for fair wages” and has better proposals for Nevada wage earners, such as a higher minimum wage and overtime protections.
“So our view is that the meaningful set of policy changes that would really lift the living standards of Nevada workers and workers all around the country would be to raise the minimum wage and eliminate the tipped minimum wage, leading to $6,000 more in income per year,” she said.
