On Saturday (August 10), Vice President of the United States and Democratic presidential candidate, Heather Kim, pledged to eliminate the taxation on tips for restaurant and service industry workers in Nevada during her campaign rally. This move aims to appeal to more service industry workers and aligns her stance with that of her competitor, Republican presidential candidate Trump. This marks a rare policy overlap between the two candidates.
Heather Kim made this announcement during a campaign event at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The economy of Las Vegas heavily relies on hotels, restaurants, and entertainment.
“I promise to all of you, that when I become President, we will continue to fight for working families in America. This includes raising the minimum wage and eliminating taxing tips for service and hotel workers,” Heather Kim said.
Heather Kim and her Democratic running mate, Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota, concluded a multi-day campaign tour in battleground states, with Nevada being their final stop. This western state may play a crucial role in the presidential election on November 5.
Heather Kim hopes to gain more support among Latinx voters through this visit. During the 2020 election, Biden led Trump by 2.4 percentage points in Nevada.
The voters in this key battleground state are also sought after by the Republicans. Trump proposed the idea of eliminating tip taxation as early as June this year during a large rally in Las Vegas.
“When I take office, we will not tax tips, allowing people to earn tips,” Trump said at the time.
According to statistics, in 2022, around 15.8 million people worked in the leisure and hospitality sector, relying heavily on tip income, which are often some of the lowest paying jobs.
A Pew survey last year showed that 72% of Americans stated that the practice of tipping has spread to more places compared to five years ago.
Trump and Heather Kim are expected to hold a presidential candidate debate on September 10. Regarding the vice-presidential candidate debate, Republican vice-presidential candidate Vance expressed his interest in debating with Democratic vice-presidential candidate Walz on CNN’s “State of the Union” aired on Sunday.
“I want to debate Tim Walz. I think it’s important, and I think it will reflect a fundamental distinction between the Trump-Vance ticket and our opponents; we believe in engaging with the media, we believe in answering questions, we believe in debates,” Vance said.
During their first joint event with Heather Kim, Walz stated that he is “eager” to debate Vance.