(IntegrityTimes.com) – Democratic voters in swing-states may be convinced to support former President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election, according to reports, following the former president’s pledge to remove tax on income received from tips. Trump made the promise at a campaign rally in Nevada on June 9. The Las Vegas crowd cheered when the former president revealed plans to scrap taxes on tips that are relied on by hotel workers and restaurant workers throughout the country.
Trump stressed at the event that the tax exemption for those reliant on tips is “really deserved”. Service workers are currently required to report any income received from tips to the IRS as regular taxable income, regardless of what form it takes. As President Joe Biden struggles in the polls, Trump is claiming that “Crooked Joe” has taken the opposite approach to him, suggesting that Biden wants to tax tips “more and more”. Trump commented on the Biden administration hiring 88,000 IRS agents to collect the tax money, vowing to keep his promises and stand with the country’s “great workers”.
Skeptics pointed out that, even if he keeps his promise, Trump’s proposed tipping tax cut would not provide those reliant on tips in the hospitality and leisure industries with a living wage. Though a Trump advisor announced plans to engage with the Culinary Workers Union, which has historically worked more closely with Democrats, Ted Pappageorge, secretary-treasurer at the group’s local branch, dismissed Trump’s “wild campaign promise” to make tips tax-exempt.
Polls suggest that over half of Americans think tipping is “out of control”. Of those surveyed, 35% supported scrapping taxes on tips and 37% felt that employers should increase wages instead so that workers are not so reliant on tips in the first place.
Taxes on tips could play an important role in determining the election outcome in the swing-state due to 23% of Nevada’s workforce being employed in the hospitality and leisure industries. Several service workers in Las Vegas told reporters that they would change their vote and opt for Trump instead of Biden because of the pledge.
Trump is not only looking to provide tax breaks for workers on low incomes, however; the former president is reportedly looking to cut corporate taxes again, as he did during his time in office.
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