The largest union in Nevada lobbied Vice President Kamala Harris to consider following former President Trump in pledging to eliminate taxes on gratuities before endorsing the Democratic presidential nominee.
A spokesperson for the Culinary Workers Union Local 226, which represents thousands of hospitality workers in the state, confirmed to Tax Notes on August 12 that the group held discussions with Harris about her potential support for eliminating taxes on tips.
The union endorsed Harris on August 9. A day later, in Nevada, she pledged to pursue such a “no tax on tips” policy.
“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,” Harris said.
The union insisted that the elimination of taxes on tips was just one part in a set of proposals it discussed with Harris.
“Culinary Union continues to communicate [with the Harris campaign] about many issues important to workers, including the 5 percent cap on rent that mirrors our Neighborhood Stability campaign, the taxes on tips issue, and raising the minimum wage,” the spokesperson told Tax Notes in an email.
In July Harris received the backing of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, which represents over 1 million employees.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said August 12 that President Biden is in favor of Harris’s proposal. “Absolutely. This is something the president supports,” she told reporters.
Nevada, home to thousands of service industry workers employed by the resorts and casinos on the Las Vegas Strip, is viewed as a crucial swing state.
During a rally in June announcing his support for the elimination of taxes on tips, Trump alluded to the state’s significance. “If we win Nevada, we win the whole thing,” he said.
Historically, Nevada is a hotly contested state. President Biden won it in 2020 by less than 3 percentage points.
As with Trump’s proposal for eliminating taxes on tips, many tax policy observers see Harris’s pledge as fiscally irresponsible.
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates that if Harris were to implement a plan to eliminate federal income taxes on tips and raise the minimum wage, the budget deficit would increase by $100 billion to $200 billion over 10 years.