President Donald Trump introduced another one of his wildly popular ideas earlier this month at a campaign rally in Las Vegas. He promised to eliminate taxes on all service industry tips.
As we noted at the time, this would be such an easy win for the Republican Party that they’ll probably figure out a way to botch it. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), however, is already sold on the idea. He’s introduced the “No Tax On Tips Act” in the US Senate and the legislation is already picking up co-sponsors and endorsement from service industry groups.
This is a simple and easy-to-implement idea. It also demonstrates, once again, that Donald Trump has a connection to the common American working man and woman that our so-called elites can’t even fathom.
The average Republican in Congress would never think of an idea like this on their own. Americans who are struggling under the crushing weight of Bidenflation simply never cross their minds.
The Democrats are even worse. They think all service/blue collar jobs should be held by illegal aliens. Do you think Nancy Pelosi has ever tipped a waitress more than 2%? Seriously?
Democrats also view tax cuts the same way that a vampire views holy water, garlic, and sunshine. THEY SHUN THEM.
This is the type of popular idea that could only come from the mind of Donald Trump. It’s a part of his much broader strategy to eliminate income taxes for Americans completely and replace them with tariffs.
The way that critics of Trump’s idea talk about it is downright disgusting. They say it’s going to “cost” the federal government $25 billion a year if he eliminates taxes on tips. That’s completely upside-down, not to mention gross.
How about thinking about it like the IRS sucks $25 billion a year out of the pockets of hardworking service-industry employees? Or as we like to call it out here in the hinterlands, “One month’s allowance for Zelensky!”
Seriously, $25 billion is such a drop in the bloated bucket of federal spending that it should be a simple matter to cut that much. Here’s an idea: How about firing Joe Biden’s new army of 87,000 IRS workers that were hired to harass the middle class? Since the IRS won’t need to be hunting down the unreported tips of every bellboy in America, they don’t need that many agents anyway.
The idea is so simple that Ted Cruz’s bill for it is only three pages long. If you make $1,000 a month in tips at your job, whether you’re a bartender, waiter, waitress, hairdresser, bellboy, Uber driver, or something else, you claim a $12,000 tax deduction at the end of the year. Easy-peasy. Everything you earn in tips counts as a tax deduction toward your total income.
Senators Steve Daines (R-MT), Rick Scott (R-FL), and Kevin Cramer (R-ND) have all signed on as co-sponsors of the legislation. Sean Kennedy with the National Restaurant Association says, “The ‘No Tax on Tips Act’ would provide immediate tax relief for more than 2.2 million restaurant employees and their families, putting more money in their pockets at a time when we’re all feeling the squeeze of higher prices.”
The Professional Beauty Association and the Texas Restaurant Association are also praising the idea.
We pay tips to service workers when they provide us with good service. The federal government didn’t rush to keep your coffee cup filled during that breakfast at IHOP. The waitress with three kids at home did! Why should the government get a cut out of that transaction?
What kind of a jerk even thinks that way? Oh, right. Every Democrat and probably a few Republicans in Congress.
This was also a brilliant campaign strategy from Donald Trump. What service industry worker who relies on tips could vote for Joe Biden after this? Offering a tax break of that size to service workers might even have the power to cut through Trump Derangement Syndrome. It also destroys the left’s notion that Republicans only try to cut taxes for “the rich.”
Ted Cruz’s bill might not be able to make it through the Senate this year, but it doesn’t matter. Trump has moved the Overton Window on this idea so far that it’s only a matter of time, and Republicans will be able to rush the bill through immediately once he’s back in the White House.
You can read Sen. Cruz’s “No Tax on Tips Act” HERE.
