Trump calls Harris a "copycat" on proposal to end taxes on tips. Experts say it wouldn't help many workers

 Former President Donald Trump spoke about tips during a campaign stop at a Las Vegas restaurant on Friday, promising workers would “keep 100% of your tip income” and saying Vice President Kamala Harris “copied us” on the proposal.

Both Trump and Harris are making the play for service and hospitality workers’ votes by promising to eliminate taxes on tips.

But the move likely wouldn’t help many tipped workers, largely because a sizable share don’t earn enough to pay federal income taxes, experts say.

Neither Trump, who announced the idea at a Las Vegas rally in June, nor Harris, who voiced her support for the policy in Las Vegas earlier this month, have released detailed proposals, which would have to go through Congress. Among the questions are how much tipped income would be free of taxes, whether any guardrails would be put in place to prevent fraud and abuse and whether both federal income and payroll taxes would be eliminated.

About 4 million people worked in tipped occupations in 2023, or about 2.5% of all employment, according to the Budget Lab at Yale University, a policy research center.

Nearly two-thirds of tipped restaurant workers would not benefit from the proposals since they don’t earn enough to pay federal income taxes, according to an analysis by One Fair Wage, an advocacy group.

The proposals wouldn’t do much for low- and moderate-income workers in general. Even among workers at the bottom of the income ladder making less than $17.66 an hour, only 5% are in tipped jobs, the Budget Lab found.

“This is good politics, but bad policy,” said Erica York, senior economist and research director at the Tax Foundation, a right-leaning think tank.