A side-by-side video posted to social media over the weekend appears to show Vice President Kamala Harris ‘adopting’ — some say stealing — one of former President Donald Trump’s top campaign pledges.
In the video, Trump is heard telling a crowd how he plans to push for an end to taxes on tips, an increasingly popular idea among service industry workers who rely heavily on them as part of their income. After Trump’s pitch, Harris then essentially repeats the same claim.
According to the video, Trump’s pledge came during a stump speech in Las Vegas on June 9, while Harris’ promise to eliminate taxes on tips came during her speech in Vegas on Saturday.
In the three-and-a-half years she’s been President Joe Biden’s second-in-command, Harris has never once discussed the idea of eliminating taxes on tips that service workers make, leading to a heap of criticism online, with the hashtag #CopyCatKamala spreading on the X platform.
“So, this is the first time I’ve said this. And, for those hotel workers and people that get tips, you’re going to be very happy,” Trump announced during his Vegas rally. “Because when I get to the office, we are going to not charge taxes on tips—people making tips.”
Tips are described as “discretionary (optional or extra) payments determined by a customer that employees receive from customers,” according to the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) website.
Workers may be paid in cash, via credit or debit card, or in the form of “tip amounts received from other employees paid out through tip pools” or “tip splitting.”
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The IRS notes that “all cash and non-cash tips” an employee receives are “income and are subject to Federal income taxes”:
All cash and non-cash tips received by an employee are income and subject to federal income taxes. All cash tips received by an employee in any calendar month are subject to social security and Medicare taxes and must be reported to the employer. If the total tips received by the employee during a single calendar month by a single employer are less than $20, then these tips are not required to be reported, and taxes are not required to be withheld. Cash tips include tips received from customers, charged tips (for example, credit and debit card charges) distributed to the employee by the employee’s employers, and tips received from other employees under any tip-sharing arrangement. Tips also include tips received by both directly and indirectly tipped employees.
At the rally, Trump declared: “We’re not going to do it. And, we’re going to do that right away, first thing in the office. Because it’s been a point of contention for years and years and years, and you do a great job of service, you take care of people.”
Regarding the taxes of those who “have jobs in restaurants” where they collect tips, Trump stated that his government would not be “going after” them.
