Vice President Harris at a Las Vegas rally on Saturday night suggested she would support ending taxes on tipping — a policy initiative that has become popular with former President Trump on the campaign trail.
The idea — exempting tip income from federal income and payroll taxes — has become a common policy line item for Trump as a way of courting working-class voters.
With Harris adopting the same message, it appears they each want to earn support from service workers.
“It is my promise to everyone here when I am president, we will continue to fight for working families, including to raise the minimum wage and eliminate taxes on tips for service and hospitality workers,” Harris said on Saturday night.
Harris was endorsed by Culinary Union 226 on Friday. Many members were in attendance for her rally in Las Vegas. Culinary Union is part of a group that represents 60,000 workers in Las Vegas and Reno.
Her remarks are similar to ones from Trump. In June, also in Las Vegas, Trump said that hotel workers and other service industry employees should be “very happy” because if he is reelected he is “going to not charge taxes on tips.”
Some have questioned how the proposal would work, and that it could carry a hefty price tag. In June, a budget watchdog estimated that implementing the practice could mean a decrease of up to $250 billion in federal revenues over a decade.
Changes to taxation on tipped income would require Congressional approval. Lawmakers will take a look at the country’s tax policy next year after Trump’s 2017 tax cut bill expires.
Trump railed against Harris in a post on Truth Social following her Las Vegas rally, accusing the vice president of copying his proposal.
“Kamala Harris, whose ‘Honeymoon’ period is ENDING, and is starting to get hammered in the Polls, just copied my NO TAXES ON TIPS Policy. The difference is, she won’t do it, she just wants it for Political Purposes!” Trump wrote.
