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Trump's Latest Tax Proposal Could Earn Him Big Points With Blue-Collar Workers: Eliminating Taxes on Servers' Tips
Townhall ^ | 06/14/2024 | Sarah Arnold

Posted on 06/14/2024 8:44:23 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

Former President Donald Trump is putting American workers first— unlike the incumbent leader in the White House now.

Trump discussed the proposal of eliminating taxes on servers' tips in his pitch for a new policy position that could inch him closer to victory in November.

The former president introduced the idea during a rally in Nevada over the weekend where many Americans work at hotels, restaurants, and in the entertainment business and rely on tips to make ends meet.

“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, because when I get to office, we are going to not charge taxes on tips, people making tips,” Trump said. “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, and I think it's going to be something that really is deserved.”

His proposal was met with praise from Republicans and even a few Democrats who were reluctant to oppose the idea.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said the former president has a “dark good idea,” saying that Trump sold Republicans when he floated his no-tax proposals.

“One of the reasons he's doing this [is] because the Biden administration is taking on onerous reporting regulations. They want to make sure they get every tax, every little penny of tip. And this [is] just a total break from that,” Johnson said.

House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole (R-OK) also praised the idea, saying said that “It’s true, gifts aren’t a taxable item, so there’s considerable merit to that in my view.”

Committee member Brad Wenstrup also touted Trump’s idea after saying that he waited tables for nine years, believing the topic deserves a conservation.

Democrat Ways and Means member Dan Kildee (D-Mich) also said that he was open to the idea of eliminating taxes for service workers. However, he still downplayed Trump’s economic policies as an election ploy.

“If what we’re talking about is giving more tax relief to working people, the method we use to get there, I’m open to conversation on that,” Killed said. “When it comes to tax policy, we do not have a tax code that requires the wealthiest and well-connected to pay their fair share. That’s got to be our first priority.”

Trump said he got the idea after talking to a waitress who said she struggles to make ends meet every month.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Michigan; US: Ohio; US: Oklahoma; US: Wisconsin
KEYWORDS: bluecollars; bradwenstrup; dankildee; incometax; michigan; ohio; oklahoma; reagan1984; ronjohnson; salestax; saraharnold; tariffs; taxes; tips; tomcole; trump; trump2024; wisconsin
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To: mbrfl

Not the point in the least.
My waitresses earned a good wage
and were paid above standard
wages at the time. They learned
very quickly that costomer
satisfaction was key to a
succesful buisness and their
insured employment.
It was not uncommon for them
to make an extra $500.00
to $700.00 a week from tips.
I never took advantage of them
as they knew their success
was dependent on their
performance, as with any job.


41 posted on 06/15/2024 2:45:40 AM PDT by Lean-Right (Eat More Moose)
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To: ansel12

The waitress typically makes less in documented hourly wages.

Tips being a variable wage amount from 0 to generally 20%. A tip is not a wage. It is a gift from the consumer for performing an exceptional job.

The minimum hourly wage for tipped workers in Ohio is $5.25 in 2024. The employee must make enough in tips to meet regular minimum wage or the employer must compensate them or more likely the employer will terminate them.

The clothing store clerk here will make close to 15 per hour, plus commissions in many cases. Commissions are not tips as commissions come from the employer.

So technically one is wages and the other is a gift from the consumer.


42 posted on 06/15/2024 2:52:05 AM PDT by EBH (America Blackmailed, The True Story of the World War...Coming Soon (1/21-))
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To: Lean-Right

>>Been around this long enough to
know how the server reacts with
the customer is 100% the
customers willingness to return.

Got it. So it’s not the food or the cost or kitchen wait time. It’s 100% the server. So how do you explain when a customer consistently leaves bad tips, regardless of the server, and yet continues to come back? You know as well as anyone that servers live off of tips. The amount of salary they earn would never be enough to live on, so the pretense that tips are just extra that a server gets for going above and beyond, is absurd.

Other industries are able to monitor the service customers receive from their employees without using tips. In fact, if a restauranteur relies on tips to find out if a server is giving good or bad service he’s using a poor metric. For one thing, how much a server is or is not tipped is not necessarily known by the owner. On top of that, if you’re waiting for a customer to give a bad tip for bad service in order to find out if the server is good or bad, you’ve waited until it’s too late. There are other ways to incentive employees, such as rewarding good employees with more hours and better shifts.


43 posted on 06/15/2024 3:33:51 AM PDT by mbrfl
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To: mbrfl

What’s with you dude? Just an
inborn need to fight?
Of course the food was terrific.
or I wouldn’t have had
repeat customers. Even the
local LEO’s showed up. They were
afforded free coffee and a
donut. I know what it takes
to run a sucessful business.
Have you experienced such an
endevore?
It’s easy to form an opinion.
Let’s see you walk the walk.
I’m a compassionate man. I
cared about my employees.
They showed great emotion
when I had to call it quits
due to personal reasons.
Take a flying leap.


44 posted on 06/15/2024 4:35:56 AM PDT by Lean-Right (Eat More Moose)
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To: Lean-Right

In Texas waitresses get $2.72 an hour.
The IRS assumes and assesses a 15% tip.


45 posted on 06/15/2024 4:42:04 AM PDT by TStro (God created everyone equal. Samuel Colt made them polite)
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To: SeekAndFind

I like the idea of Trump cutting taxes everywhere. It bolsters the argument that we can’t afford all the alphabet agencies anymore, so they’ll need to be defunded, disbanded, do not replace. Two thirds of the federal work force fired? Oh well.


46 posted on 06/15/2024 4:44:02 AM PDT by Sirius Lee (They intend to kill us. Plan to avoid this.)
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To: Lurker

Trump knows that this encourages people who vote Dem or don’t vote at all to vote for him. I’m not a major restaurant customer, but when I do go pick up a pizza I like to leave a tip in cash.


47 posted on 06/15/2024 4:55:08 AM PDT by ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas (Re-imagine the media!)
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To: TStro

Thank you.
The better the business,
the better the tip.
The whole point of this
debate is weather those
in the service industry
can claim their entire
compensation as wages,
while allowing tips to be
tax free. Total amounts
dictate final retirement
amounts.
Restaurants run on very
slim margines, and I will
admit that most of the
workforce is under
educated. It’s very
evident when there’s a
high turnover of employees
trying to better their futures.
I didn’t set the industry
standards. They are what
they are, or there
wouldn’t be any
restaurants.
Case in point....
When was the last time
you tipped a McDonalds
server for serving up
your Big Mac in record
time?


48 posted on 06/15/2024 5:13:54 AM PDT by Lean-Right (Eat More Moose)
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To: DIRTYSECRET

On “The Five,” (popular Fox News show) they said yesterday that Biden is polling much better with seniors than Trump. Seniors tend to more regularly vote than young people. Decreasing or elimination taxes on seniors could help Trump a lot.


49 posted on 06/15/2024 5:19:17 AM PDT by PghBaldy (12/14/12 - 930am -rampage begins... 12/15/12 - 1030am - Obama team scouts photo-op locations.)
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To: SeekAndFind

I mentioned this to several “wokeish” friends of mine (who work for a huge company out of Redmond, Washington) and they said they never heard of it and doubted Ogre Trump would do that.

They never saw it on CNN or MSNBC.

Anyway, I gave them a link from their company’s own search engine (lots of Left of center sources): https://www.bing.com/news/search?q=Trump+Discussed+The+Proposal+Of+Eliminating+Taxes+On+Servers%27+Tips&qpvt=Trump+discussed+the+proposal+of+eliminating+taxes+on+servers%27+tips&FORM=EWRE

They were then flabbergasted! “If Trump is serious,” said one not as political as most, “then he’ll win the election with this!”

Trump 2024! Make America Greater Again!


50 posted on 06/15/2024 5:22:27 AM PDT by Alas Babylon! (Repeal the Patriot Act; Abolish the DHS; reform FBI top to bottom!)
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To: SeekAndFind

Why should I have to pay tax on my income while others don’t?


51 posted on 06/15/2024 5:23:33 AM PDT by HonorInPa
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To: SeekAndFind
In general, I respect people working in restaurants. They have to work hard and really hustle to meet the requirements of their jobs.

Many of them also occupy the lower end of the socioeconomic spectrum and thus struggle daily in their financial lives. They'd have easier lives if they sat at home and let the government take care of them, but instead, have chosen to work and take care of themselves.

I'm more than okay with these folks getting a tax break.

Full Disclosure: My daughter has been working in restaurants for over 10 years. I see how hard she works in exchange for relatively meager pay, much of which comes in the form of tips. She and others like her deserve a tax break as much as anyone else.
52 posted on 06/15/2024 5:26:46 AM PDT by Dan in Wichita
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To: SeekAndFind

Voluntary tips are gifts. Forced tips are not, nor are wages.

Homeless people never pay tax for handouts.

Since servers and the like are already paid a wage, anything on top of that should be considered a gift.

It makes sense to me, even using today’s tax code approach. It has been wrong to tax gifts.


53 posted on 06/15/2024 5:31:54 AM PDT by ConservativeMind (Trump: Befuddling Democrats, Republicans, and the Media for the benefit of the US and all mankind.)
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To: HonorInPa

Been that way for 70 years or more. I agree doesn’t make it right.


54 posted on 06/15/2024 5:35:39 AM PDT by mad_as_he$$
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To: ansel12

Never begrudge someone else their own money.

Expend that energy on doing something about doing your damndest to see that you can keep more of your own.

Deep State gins of games of lets-you-and-him-fight.

Refuse to play.


55 posted on 06/15/2024 5:38:18 AM PDT by mewzilla (Never give up; never surrender!)
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To: AndyTheBear

knowing my job with the bank, the bank would request government to eliminate times & 1/2 for ot because, hey no tax.


56 posted on 06/15/2024 5:52:51 AM PDT by VAFreedom (Wuhan Pneumonia-Made by CCP, Copyright Xi Jingping)
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To: mewzilla

No discussions on taxes, sure.


57 posted on 06/15/2024 6:19:02 AM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Arthur Wildfire! March; Berosus; Bockscar; BraveMan; cardinal4; ...

58 posted on 06/15/2024 6:20:41 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Putin should skip ahead to where he kills himself in the bunker.)
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To: HonorInPa

The cook would probably ask the same, as would the janitors who clean the strip joint and bar.


59 posted on 06/15/2024 6:22:05 AM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: SeekAndFind

I caught a sound bite from a liberal media talking head, in response to the democrats “buying votes.” She said “the Republicans are doing the same thing with tax-cuts.”

Think about that for a moment...


60 posted on 06/15/2024 6:23:58 AM PDT by Cold_Red_Steel
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