The Biden-Harris administration’s expansion of the IRS zeroed in on increasing compliance of service industry workers to report tips to the federal government for taxation.
Vice President Kamala Harris copied former President Donald Trump’s campaign promise on Saturday to eliminate taxes on tips, contradicting the administration’s position.
The IRS issued a notice of the administration’s newly proposed program to crack down on wait staff in 2023. According to the agency, the proposed features of the program, dubbed the Service Industry Tip Compliance Agreement (SITCA), include:
- The monitoring of employer compliance based on actual annual tip revenue and charge tip data from an employer’s point-of-sale system, and allowance for adjustments in tipping practices from year to year.
- Participating employers demonstrate compliance with the program requirements by submitting an annual report after the close of the calendar year, which reduces the need for compliance reviews by the IRS.
- Participating employers receive protection from liability under the rules that define tips as part of an employee’s pay for calendar years in which they remain compliant with program requirements.
- Participating employers have flexibility to implement employee tip reporting policies that are best suited for their employees and their business model in accordance with the section of the tax law that requires employees to report tips to their employers.
Harris’s decision to copy Trump’s proposal to eliminate taxes on tips is further contradicted by her voting record as vice president.
In 2022, Harris cast the tie-breaking vote to pass the Inflation Reduction Act. The bill gave the IRS $80 billion in additional taxpayer funds, which the agency used to implement the above program.“Two years ago today, I proudly cast the tie-breaking vote to pass our Inflation Reduction Act,” Harris’s touted last week.
Wendell Husebo is a political reporter with Breitbart News and a former RNC War Room Analyst. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality. Follow Wendell on “X” @WendellHusebø or on Truth Social @WendellHusebo.
