Trump says ‘no tax on tips’ was his idea. It was a GOP candidate’s proposal years ago

Former President Donald Trump claimed on social media late Saturday night that he was proposing an idea to end tax on tips, despite another Republican candidate proposing such a policy more than a decade ago.

Trump called Vice President Kamala Harris a “COPYCAT” in a rant on his Truth Social platform and shared a screenshot from a right-wing social media account accusing her of “directly plagiarized‘from him.

The vice president pledged at a rally in Las Vegas on Saturday to eliminate taxes on tips for service and hospitality workers, which her Republican rival had similarly proposed in June.

“This was a TRUMP idea – she has no ideas, she can only steal from me,” the former president claimed in a post.

He continued in another post: “Kamala has no imagination whatsoever, as evidenced by the fact that she performed ‘COPYCAT’ with NO TAXES ON TIPS!”

The alleged “TRUMP idea” comes years after ex-Republican presidential candidate and former Rep. Ron Paul called it a “scandal” in a January 2012 op-ed that waitstaff and other service workers had to pay taxes on tips they received. earned on the clock.

The ex-Texas lawmaker, in 2007 And year thenintroduced legislation in Congress that sought to exempt tips from federal income and payroll taxes.

“That’s because I understand that ending tax on tips will give these workers a raise, leaving them more money to spend on things like a house or car payment, their retirement, or their own education and /or their children,” Paul wrote in the Las Vegas Sun op-ed.

Congressional data also shows that at least one other lawmaker has called for no tax on tips, as former Rep. Phil Crane (R-Ill.) pushed the proposal back in 1982.

JS reached out to the Trump campaign, which was not immediately available for comment.

Trump declared at a rally in Las Vegas in June that hotel workers and others who receive tips would be “very happy” as he promised not to tax tips if he won the election.

“We’re not going to do it and we’re going to do that right away, first in office, because it’s been a point of contention for years and years and years,” he said.

“And you do a great job, you take care of people and I think this is something that is really deserved.”

Trump’s comments arrived more than a week ahead of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), along with other Republican lawmakers in both the Senate and Congresssupported legislation in June aimed at exempting tips from taxes.

Both Trump and Harris would probably do that need help from Congress to keep their promises, the Associated Press noted.