Vice President Kamala Harris has come under fire from critics and conservatives for “copying” former President Trump’s campaign pledge not to tax tips from service industry workers after the Biden-Harris administration created a plan to crack down on tipping.
“This is a good time to remind everyone that #CopyCatKamala’s management introduced a new enforcement plan last year to collect more taxes on tips! She can stop it now…but she’s an unscrupulous fraud!” Trump campaign political director James Blair posted to X.
At a campaign rally in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday, Harris was responding to revelations that he supports eliminating taxes on service industry workers’ tips.
“My promise to everyone here while I’m president is that we will continue to fight for working families, including raising the minimum wage and eliminating tip taxes for service and hospitality workers,” Harris said at the rally.
Biden’s IRS plans to crack down on waiters’ tips
Vice President Kamala Harris says her swearing has gotten worse since she took office. (AP Photo/Morrie Cash)
Trump had already vowed earlier this summer to eliminate taxes on service industry tips if re-elected to the Oval Office, adding the promise to the 2024 GOP platform.
“This is the first time I’m saying this, to hoteliers and tippers, you’ll be very happy because when I come into office we won’t be taxing tips, people who tip … this has been a point of contention for years, and you’re doing a great service. , you take care of people, and I think that’s something that’s really well-deserved,” Trump said back in June. During a rally in Las Vegas.
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Harris joined Trump in calling for the elimination of the tax on tips, after the Biden administration last year released a voluntary tip reporting system for industry workers that works to streamline tax compliance on tips.
President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on the Truman Balcony of the White House on July 4, 2024. (Tearney L. Cross/Getty Images)
The Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service today issued Notice 2023-13, which contains a proposed revenue procedure to establish the Service Industry Tipping Compliance Agreement (SITCA) program, a voluntary tip reporting program between the IRS and employers in various service industries. “The The IRS said in a press release last year of the project.
The plan was criticized by tax experts at the time as a crackdown on “employee tips” after the IRS hired 87,000 new agents under the Biden administration, Fox News Digital reported last year.
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“Washington has a spending problem, not a revenue problem,” Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., chairman of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Taxation, told Fox News Digital at the time. “Right now, the IRS is going after middle-income families and working moms and dads who are trying to make ends meet and put food on the table.”
“My colleagues and I have been warning for months that the IRS would begin targeting hard-working Americans in the Biden administration’s quest for more taxpayer dollars. Now, these concerns are bearing some fruit,” he added.
After Harris said on Saturday that he wanted to eliminate taxes on tips, Trump accused Harris of stealing the plan and slammed him as a “copycat.”
Trump promised to eliminate taxes on tips for service workers during a Las Vegas rally
Kamala Harris, ‘honeymoon’ period is over and polls are starting to take a hit, copying my no taxes on tips policy,” Trump wrote.
Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump (Getty Images)
“The difference is she won’t do it, she wants it for political purposes! It’s a Trump idea — she has no idea, she can steal it from me,” he added.
Republicans bombarded Biden administration over plan to crack down on waiters’ tips
After President Biden dropped out of the race last month, other critics slammed Harris on social media for “copying” Trump against the 45th president. Critics often used the hashtag “#CopyCatKamala” while calling on the vice president to “copy” Trump, prompting the hashtag to trend on X over the weekend.
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The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on the criticisms and the SITCA plan.
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