Vice President Kamala Harris copied a campaign promise first announced by former President Donald Trump to eliminate taxes on tips.
During a campaign rally in Nevada on Saturday, Harris acknowledged that Culinary Union Local 226 was at the rally, and she continued on to vow that if elected president in November, she would work to “raise the minimum wage” and “eliminate taxes on tips for service and hospitality workers.”
Harris’s promise comes after Trump announced in June during a rally in Las Vegas, Nevada, that if elected president, his administration would “not charge taxes on tips.”
“I know Culinary 226 is in the house,” Harris told the crowd. “And, the culinary union, as everyone in Nevada knows, they have helped lead the way in our country for workers’ rights and workers dignity. I have to say, for years I’ve been so proud to work by your side. When I was Attorney General of California, we worked together to crack down on wage theft. When I was a United States senator we fought together for paid family leave and medical leave, and earlier this year right here in Vegas we celebrated your historic contract win. And, it is my promise to everyone here, 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.”
During a roundtable event at an African-American church in Michigan in June, Trump again vowed that his administration was “not going to tax tips.”
“Tell your waiters and waitresses, anybody else getting tips, ’cause they’re… a lot of people get tips,” Trump said. “Car attendants and caddies, and a lot of different people get tips. We are not going to tax tips – the tax immediately is coming off.”
Trump criticized Harris’s recent promise to end taxation on tips, stating that she “just wants it for Political Purposes.”
“Kamala Harris, whose ‘Honeymoon’ period is ENDING, and is starting to get hammered in the Polls, just copied my NO TAXES ON TIPS Policy,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “The difference is, she won’t do it, she just wants it for Political Purposes! This was a TRUMP idea – She has no ideas, she can only steal from me. Remember, Kamala has proposed the LARGEST TAX INCREASE IN HISTORY – It won’t happen. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”
The former president has also been seen leaving a $500 tip at a restaurant in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, writing “Vote Trump, No Tax on Tip” on the check.
