Vice President Kamala Harris unveiled a promise to eliminate taxes on tips during a campaign rally in Las Vegas on Saturday, a move that quickly drew the ire of former President Donald Trump, who accused her of copying one of his signature policy ideas. The event, held in the hospitality-heavy state of Nevada, saw Harris promising to support working families by raising the minimum wage and removing taxes on tips for service and hospitality workers, a declaration that was met with enthusiastic applause from the crowd.

 

However, this proposal, which Harris positioned as a key part of her campaign platform, closely mirrors a similar policy that Trump has been promoting since before Harris entered the presidential race. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, wasted no time in calling out Harris for what he saw as an act of political mimicry. “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 on his social media platform, Truth Social. He went on to criticize Harris, claiming that her promise was merely for political gain and that she would not follow through with it. “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.”

 

Trump first introduced the no-tax-on-tips proposal during his own campaign stop in Nevada back in June, where he shared a story about a waiter who had lost a significant portion of her tips to taxes. This encounter inspired him to include the policy in his campaign, making it a cornerstone of his appeal to the working-class voters in the state. Harris, however, sought to cast doubt on Trump’s sincerity, arguing that his administration would ultimately favor the wealthy over the average American worker.

 

During her speech, Harris criticized Trump for his economic policies, accusing him of planning to give tax breaks to billionaires and large corporations while cutting essential programs like Social Security and Medicare. “If he is elected, Donald Trump intends to give tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations. He intends to cut Social Security and Medicare, and he intends to surrender our fight against the climate crisis,” Harris declared. Her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, echoed these sentiments, suggesting that a Trump presidency would rig the economy in favor of the rich, leaving the middle class with nothing.

 

Despite the back-and-forth between the two candidates, some attendees at the rally acknowledged the similarities between Harris’s proposal and Trump’s. “Sounds like a positive thing. I mean, it’s the same thing Trump said, isn’t it?” commented Tammy Campa, a local appraiser who once worked as a busser at Circus Circus, a popular Las Vegas casino. Others, however, expressed more confidence in Harris’s ability to deliver on the promise. “He said it,” local retiree Varel Jackson remarked. “But, you know, you can’t believe everything that comes out of Trump’s mouth.”

 

The rally, which took place at the University of Nevada’s Thomas & Mack Center, drew an estimated 12,000 attendees, according to campaign spokespeople. Although the arena has a capacity of up to 19,500, the top tier was closed off, leaving a portion of the stadium unfilled. The campaign also claimed that an additional 4,000 people were turned away due to the extreme heat, with temperatures soaring to a record-breaking 120 degrees.

 

Harris’s visit to Nevada was the final stop in a series of campaign events across key battleground states, including Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Arizona. These states, along with Nevada, are seen as crucial to securing a victory in the upcoming election. In 2020, President Biden narrowly won Nevada, defeating Trump by just 2.4 percentage points.

 

The Las Vegas rally also followed a significant endorsement from the Culinary Union, Nevada’s largest labor union, which represents a substantial portion of the state’s workforce. This endorsement is likely to bolster Harris’s appeal among Nevada’s voters, particularly in a state where the service and hospitality industries play such a vital role in the economy.

 

As the 2024 presidential race heats up, the debate over who truly champions the interests of working Americans is likely to intensify. Harris’s adoption of the no-tax-on-tips policy, whether seen as a genuine commitment or a political strategy, underscores the broader battle for the support of the nation’s working class. In a state like Nevada, where tipped workers are a significant demographic, the issue of tip taxation is particularly resonant, making it a key point of contention between the two leading candidates.

 

 

Credit: NYP  2024-08-13

 

 

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Kamala is avoiding getting in the weeds now  and for good reasons.

This is a historically weird LAST MINUTE campaign.

A normal campaign would have been going on for several months.

She's in a rush for everything.
Don't expect much in the way of details before the convention where there will be a democratic party platform and going on from that.

As to the tips issue I have a clue about what's going on.

Trump mentioned it first.

It's true.

But when Kamala mentioned she specified for SERVICE WORKERS.

Why does this matter?

First of all a huge percentage of service workers are low income even with taxable tips meaning they end up paying little or no tax anyway under a certain threshold. 

Secondly, there is a way that "tips" could be applied to very high income people such as hedge fund managers. It fits the Trump pattern to cut taxes mostly for the very wealthy. 

I predict we'll be hearing more about that key detail. 

Also even if Trump's idea is only about service workers. does he have a copyright on the idea of not taxing tips? What kind of politics is it if you are required to always 100 percent oppose the policies of the opposition?

1 hour ago, Jingthing said:

Kamala is avoiding getting in the weeds now  and for good reasons.

This is a historically weird LAST MINUTE campaign.

A normal campaign would have been going on for several months.

She's in a rush for everything.
Don't expect much in the way of details before the convention where there will be a democratic party platform and going on from that.

As to the tips issue I have a clue about what's going on.

Trump mentioned it first.

It's true.

But when Kamala mentioned she specified for SERVICE WORKERS.

Why does this matter?

First of all a huge percentage of service workers are low income even with taxable tips meaning they end up paying little or no tax anyway under a certain threshold. 

Secondly, there is a way that "tips" could be applied to very high income people such as hedge fund managers. It fits the Trump pattern to cut taxes mostly for the very wealthy. 

I predict we'll be hearing more about that key detail. 

Also even if Trump's idea is only about service workers. does he have a copyright on the idea of not taxing tips? What kind of politics is it if you are required to always 100 percent oppose the policies of the opposition?

Excellent point jingthing I hope Harris brings that little nugget to light I just thought trump was pandering for votes besides tax the wealthy not some service worker!

34 minutes ago, Tug said:

Excellent point jingthing I hope Harris brings that little nugget to light I just thought trump was pandering for votes besides tax the wealthy not some service worker!

 

Trump was pandering for votes. Now Kamala is. Neither can achieve this and it is empty promises. She could have been more sublte and not say it in Vegas where Trump introduced the idea.

3 minutes ago, Cryingdick said:

 

Trump was pandering for votes. Now Kamala is. Neither can achieve this and it is empty promises. She could have been more sublte and not say it in Vegas where Trump introduced the idea.

Ahh us regular Americans have thought the irs harassing waiters and waitresses sucked big time and allways thought they should be focused more on the wealthy.jingthing brought an excellent point to light and I hope Harris with the bulley pulpit exposes that nugget that it only should apply to service workers not hedge fund managers ect trump is not the only one to think this tax is unjustified 

8 minutes ago, Tug said:

Ahh us regular Americans have thought the irs harassing waiters and waitresses sucked big time and allways thought they should be focused more on the wealthy.jingthing brought an excellent point to light and I hope Harris with the bulley pulpit exposes that nugget that it only should apply to service workers not hedge fund managers ect trump is not the only one to think this tax is unjustified 

 

Biden is the guy that wanted 87,000 new IRS agents including millions of rounds of ammunition to look for people with more than $600 in their eBay accounts. He was no proponent of anything like this until today. He wanted to clawback the crumbs from your couch cushions.

 

Unreported income including tips was included in this. A tip given in cash is tax free. 

Either way it is a terrible idea along with eliminating tax on social security.

A source was fairly requested in a flame post for my point that no taxes on tips could be used by high income people having nothing to do with waiters and such. It wasn't my idea. I got that point from a youtube video that I can't easily find now, but I'll include this:

 

Harris, Trump see votes in not taxing tips. Experts see trouble. - POLITICO

Quote

 

The hottest topic in taxes this presidential cycle is pitting political strategy against the beancounters.

Over the weekend, Vice President Kamala Harris embraced the effort to eliminate taxes on tips for service and hospitality workers, after former President Donald Trump first proposed the idea in June. Both did so with an eye toward the key state of Nevada in the presidential election, which is teeming with tipped workers, especially in Las Vegas.

The idea has caught fire with those workers and the union that represents many of them. But economists on the left and right are sounding alarms about unintended consequences. Depending on how such a tax cut is structured, they warn, it could pile onto the already unsustainable federal deficit, ding Social Security and Medicare, and open a tempting loophole for high-end earners like financiers to recategorize their income to shield it from taxes.

 

 

 

Being aware of this issue I was surprised that Harris mentioned it in Nevada without at least mentioning that her intention was at least to make sure there weren't loopholes for the finance industry to contrast to Trump who never met a billionaire's tax cut that he didn't love. Sure it makes sense politically for both of them to get votes in Nevada. 

5 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

A source was fairly requested in a flame post for my point that no taxes on tips could be used by high income people having nothing to do with waiters and such. It wasn't my idea. I got that point from a youtube video that I can't easily find now, but I'll include this:

 

Harris, Trump see votes in not taxing tips. Experts see trouble. - POLITICO

 

It's  simply a terrible idea. People that get tips are not even close to the lowest earners out there. I think a policy that exempts b anybody making less than $15 an hour from federal taxes would be better. No more hiking the minimum  wage just let low level earners keep their money. The cocktail waitress at the titty bar and blackjack dealers need to pay.

 

 

Honestly I think it's electioneering BS from both of them. 

imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. 

8 minutes ago, Cryingdick said:

 

welcome back whoever you used to be. Nobody comes here as a new poster and finds this section and posts exclusively here. No curiosity of any kind about thailand gives it away. 

I have been living in Thailand for 30 years... what possible curiosity remains?  I just am amused at the number of Americans who want to destroy their country because they have built up an overwhelming hatred of one man and half the population of their own country.  My posts may or may not reflect how I really feel or believe but they do point out the hypocrisy whenever I can... it amuses me while I have my coffee.

15 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

A source was fairly requested in a flame post for my point that no taxes on tips could be used by high income people having nothing to do with waiters and such. It wasn't my idea. I got that point from a youtube video that I can't easily find now, but I'll include this:

You get your view of the world from youtube... explains it all... tiktok too???

 

2 minutes ago, JustMyOpinion said:

You get your view of the world from youtube... explains it all... tiktok too???

 

Not tittok.

There are tons of excellent new sites and political commentary on the youtube platform.

Also lots of garbage.

You join with Putin in attacking it. 

1 minute ago, Jingthing said:

Not tittok.

There are tons of excellent new sites and political commentary on the youtube platform.

Also lots of garbage.

You join with Putin in attacking it. 

No... I watch Youtube... but I certainly DO NOT give much credence to the content... it all has a bias and slant depending on who is doing the posting... and NONE of it is vetted

Just now, JustMyOpinion said:

No... I watch Youtube... but I certainly DO NOT give much credence to the content... it all has a bias and slant depending on who is doing the posting... and NONE of it is vetted

That's ridiculous!

Youtube is a platform that has basically EVERYTHING from crackpots in a basement to credible mainstream media.

12 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

That's ridiculous!

Youtube is a platform that has basically EVERYTHING from crackpots in a basement to credible mainstream media.

"YouTube news viewers recognize that the platform is not without problems. Critics and observers have raised a number of concerns about news on YouTube, ranging from misinformation and political bias to the control YouTube has over its content creators, both in terms of their content itself and their financial relationship with the website."

 

PS... and we all know where google stands in the political spectrum... Youtube is owned and operated by the largest liberal left censorship company in the world... no matter how many times they get caught they keep right on doing it.

52 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Honestly I think it's electioneering BS from both of them. 

Yup they are after votes the difference is Harris is closing any loophole for the wealthy to use in shirking their taxes!that’s a big difference!

4 hours ago, Tug said:

Excellent point jingthing I hope Harris brings that little nugget to light I just thought trump was pandering for votes besides tax the wealthy not some service worker!

I see Joe taught her well.  Kamala can't be anything but a Democrat.  The lying, taking credit for things she has not done.  Copying from a competitor.  Pure Democrat.  Looks like she did learn something from Biden.

Trump's record of non delivery of the many things he said come back to haunt him. 

 

Others, however, expressed more confidence in Harris’s ability to deliver on the promise. “He said it,” local retiree Varel Jackson remarked. “But, you know, you can’t believe everything that comes out of Trump’s mouth.”

4 hours ago, Cryingdick said:

 

Biden is the guy that wanted 87,000 new IRS agents including millions of rounds of ammunition to look for people with more than $600 in their eBay accounts. He was no proponent of anything like this until today. He wanted to clawback the crumbs from your couch cushions.

 

Unreported income including tips was included in this. A tip given in cash is tax free. 

Either way it is a terrible idea along with eliminating tax on social security.

Please. For people who earn little there are automated programs to catch people who either cheat or just make a mistake. In fact, those automated programs can also give refunds to those who make a mistake.

The IRS program with new agents was designed to go where the money is - the wealthy. The IRS budgets have been slashed over the years allowing the rich to get away with massive tax evasion.

Wealth

Tax evasion by millionaires and billionaires tops $150 billion a year, says IRS chief

The nation’s millionaires and billionaires are evading more than $150 billion a year in taxes, according to the head of the Internal Revenue Service.
The IRS, with billions of dollars in new funding from Congress, has launched a sweeping crackdown on wealthy individuals, partnerships and large companies, Commissioner Danny Werfel told CNBC.
“We have to make investments to make sure that whether you’re a complicated filer who can afford to hire an army of lawyers and accountants, or a more simple filer who has one income and takes the standard deduction, the IRS is equally able to determine what’s owed,” he said.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/22/tax-evasion-by-wealthiest-americans-tops-150-billion-a-year-irs.html

 

Your point about tips is a good one. Why should tips be exempt from income tax? It makes no sense.

As for eliminating taxes on income earned by SS recipients, it's a little more complicated. Years ago, a provision was made that allowed for income by seniors to be taxed once it reached a certain level. The problem was that the bill didn't provide for inflation adjustments. So the law should be changed to raise the limit to what it would have been were inflation accounted for. 

6 hours ago, Social Media said:

a move that quickly drew the ire of former President Donald Trump, who accused her of copying one of his signature policy ideas

 

 

 

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.......I'm surprised he isn't thrilled she has copied it?

 

 

4 hours ago, Tug said:

Yup they are after votes the difference is Harris is closing any loophole for the wealthy to use in shirking their taxes!that’s a big difference!

Well I'd be skeptical about either side actually doing it and I'm not so sure it's a great idea either. Lower income people are already shielded from taxes and if a waiter makes 100k annually why should he get a break that other 100k earners don't? Yes I have met waiters who have villas in Tuscany.

What to do? (a) Don't copy Don because he is the only one who had this brilliant idea. It's his idea, no one else's. Na na na na. (b) keep the single mothers with two children in the service sector on minimum wage while squeezing tax money out of them (c) ensure those on minimum wage are the only ones who get a tax benefit (d) admit that Harris is a lefty, Putin-luvin' liberal and this is what they do.

     Oh, dear.  How utterly awful!  She agrees with something Trump is also in favor of.  My goodness, we cannot have that--it 'sparks controversy'.   Well, boys and girls, in the days of yesteryear, that was not the rarity that it is now.  And, politicians from opposing parties agreeing to something would not 'spark controversy'.     

    Often then, both parties could be for something that benefitted the country, or a segment of it, and it would just be a matter of compromising on the details.   Hence, politics being termed 'the art of compromise'. 

    For example, the majority of both House Democrats and House Republicans voted in favor of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.  NASA was proposed by a Republican president--Eisenhower--and passed by a Democrat-controlled Congress.  Compare that to the Affordable Care Act, which passed the Senate without a single Republican vote of support.  No Republicans were in favor of affordable health care for Americans?  Not even one? Seriously?  Likely some were but were pressured to not give a win to the Democrats.     

   Sad that these days, too often if a Democrat is for something, a Republican is automatically against it, no matter what it is.  And, vice versa.  It's often a struggle to get just a few politicians from the opposing side to vote in favor of something, let alone a majority.  God forbid that one party or the other gets credit for initiating something beneficial.  Certainly cannot have that either.  

3 hours ago, mogandave said:

Apparently, you endorse the belief that in the USA VP has some sort of superpower that allows her to create and enact laws. Not even the President can do that.

2 hours ago, placeholder said:

Apparently, you endorse the belief that in the USA VP has some sort of superpower that allows her to create and enact laws. Not even the President can do that.

Aww now there you go hitting a trump supporter with reality…..they seem to think our government is a dictatorship his head may explode 🤯 

9 hours ago, placeholder said:

Apparently, you endorse the belief that in the USA VP has some sort of superpower that allows her to create and enact laws. Not even the President can do that.

And of course has no influence, got it. 

 

It is interesting that you blame Trump for his tax cuts, but claim Biden does not have the power to cut taxes. Not a STEM major, huh?

The SCOTUS says forgiving student loans (buying votes) is unconstitutional, yes Biden ignores that and takes doctoral action to make it happen. 

 

Harris pledging to do the same. 

A reported post, just using a picture with inappropriate messaging has been removed.