The Trump campaign is blasting Vice President Kamala Harris for copying former President Donald Trump’s popular campaign promise of “No Tax on Tips,” showcasing the presidential hopeful’s apparent inability to showcase an original idea.
The video, first obtained by Breitbart News, reminds viewers of headlines made in 2023, when the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), under the Biden-Harris administration, moved to crack down on tips in the service industry. The montage includes a number of talking heads from a variety of networks pointing out the fact that Harris’s newfound support of “No Tax on Tips” is inauthentic, as she is simply copying Trump’s popular idea.
One talking head in the montage described Harris as a “puppet” who does not have one original idea. Another said that the media are covering up for Harris, despite the fact that “No Tax on Tips” has always been Trump’s idea — not Harris’s. Another asks how Harris is even able to reconcile this policy given her involvement in the very administration that has gone after tax on tips for service workers via the IRS.
“Kamala will say or do anything to get election,” the chyron on the screen reads, warning the American voter, “You can’t trust her.”
“Kamala Harris. Weak. Failed. Dangerously liberal,” it concludes.
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“The media is covering for Copycat Kamala who is walking back her failed economic policies and stealing President Donald J. Trump’s popular ‘No Tax on Tips’ policy,” Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement provided to Breitbart News.
“Kamala’s attempt to gaslight voters into believing these policies are her own is insulting to Americans that have been struggling for four years thanks to her radical agenda. The fake news media may let Harris hide away and use her staffers to erase her failed record, but the Americans will hold dangerously liberal Kamala Harris accountable when they send President Trump back to the White House in November,” she added.
Indeed, in August, Harris copied the Trump campaign promise, announcing during a rally in Nevada that she would not only aim to “raise the minimum wage” but “eliminate taxes on tips for service and hospitality workers”:
I know Culinary 226 is in the house,” Harris told the crowd. “And 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. When I was attorney general of California, we worked together to crack down on wage theft. When I was a United States senator, we fought together for paid family leave and medical leave, 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 [emphasis added].
However, Trump made that pledge in June, telling a crowd in Las Vegas, “So 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,” Trump announced.
“Because when I get to office, we are going to not charge taxes on tips — people making tips.”
“We’re going to do that right away, first thing in office because 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,” Trump added:
🚨New: President Trump has announced he will ask Congress to eliminate all taxes on TIPS for restaurant workers and hospitality workers.
— The Calvin Coolidge Project (@TheCalvinCooli1) June 9, 2024
Trump said, “When I get into office, we're not going to charge taxes on tips-people making tips.”
pic.twitter.com/GNMw1U1Mio
The promise went largely viral, as the campaign even once offered to mail pro-Trump “No Tax on Tips” stickers to those who requested them to put on receipts leading up to the election.
Currently, the IRS considers tips — cash and non-cash alike — as “income and are subject to Federal income taxes.”
Trump, in turn, slammed Harris for copying his position, writing on Truth Social that Harris has “no imagination, whatsoever, as shown by the fact that she played ‘COPYCAT’ with, NO TAXES ON TIPS!” He also warned that she is only interested in that position for political purposes and will not actually follow through.
“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,” added said.
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