Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday pledged 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 on 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 the elimination of taxes on tips would require legislation. If elected president, Harris would work with Congress to craft a proposal that mandates an income limit and applies 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 only mentioned the proposal for “Political Purposes.”
“This was a TRUMP idea,” the former president said. “She can only steal from me.”
Trump announced a policy proposal to eliminate taxes on tips during a June rally in Las Vegas. Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt did not offer specifics on the proposal at the time but 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 due to 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 a lukewarm reaction to Trump’s proposal, saying that they prefer increases in base wages to the elimination of 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 only affect an estimated 2.5% of the workforce and 5% of workers in the bottom 25% of earners.
The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment when asked whether she supports Republican-led bills to exempt tip income.
Asked in June about Trump’s policy proposal, Lael Brainard, a top Biden White House adviser, 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.
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