Harris Matches Trump Pledge to Eliminate Taxes on Tips During Las Vegas Rally

Posted on: August 12, 2024, 10:12h. 

Last updated on: August 12, 2024, 03:11h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.

During a Las Vegas campaign rally on Saturday, Vice President Kamala Harris pledged to eliminate taxes on tips received by hospitality and gaming industry workers.

Kamala Harris tips Las Vegas casino workers
Kamala Harris rallies in Las Vegas on Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024. Harris has mimicked Donald Trump’s pledge to remove tips from hospitality workers’ taxable income. (Image: AP)

A day after the Culinary Workers Union Local 226 endorsed Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, for the 2024 United States presidential election, Harris committed to removing the federal tax on tips. It’s a campaign promise that her opponent, former President Donald Trump, first made months earlier while campaigning in Las Vegas.

The Culinary local chapter represents approximately 60K workers employed in the gaming industry in Las Vegas and Reno. Labor members are employed as housekeepers, cooks, bartenders, waitstaff, porters, bellmen, and laundry workers.

I know Culinary 226 is in the house,” Harris said before a crowd of 12K in UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center. “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 … 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,” Harris continued.

Tips Become Campaign Issue

Nevada is once again expected to be a key battleground state, which is why Harris and Trump have made — and will continue to make — campaign stops in the Silver State. Since 1980, Nevada voters have gotten every US presidential election outcome correct aside from Trump’s 2016 win in which the state went for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.

Culinary hasn’t endorsed a Republican presidential candidate in decades, but the tip-free pledge could win over undecided union members. Determining if Harris and Trump will live up to their campaign promise will be for such voters to decide.

“As the largest organization of working women in Nevada, the chance to elect the first woman president of the USA is both energizing and historic and we are ready to make history together. The path to victory runs through Nevada and the Culinary Union, and we will deliver Nevada for President Kamala Harris and Vice-President Tim Walz,” said Culinary Secretary-Treasurer Ted Pappageorge.

Many Culinary union members rely heavily on tips from casino guests. Under the Internal Revenue Service’s current tax structure, tipped workers are required to report their tips as taxable income. While many might pocket some of their cash tips, in the age of credit cards being the primary payment method, it’s much harder for tipped workers to avoid reporting tips.

Eliminating tips from taxable income, the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget reports, would create a $150 billion to $250 billion budget hole over the next decade. 

Trump’s Response

Trump pounced on Harris seemingly taking a page out of his 2024 campaign playbook.

Harris has no imagination, whatsoever, as shown by the fact that she played ‘copycat’ with no taxes on tips,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

On Polymarket, a decentralized peer-to-peer political betting exchange, Harris is now the front-runner. Her shares of winning the November 5 election are trading at 52 cents to Trump’s at 46 cents.