Former President Donald Trump touted his proposal to eliminate the tax on tipped wages at a campaign rally in Las Vegas on Friday, while repeating his typically relaxed campaign message and attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris.

The event, held at the Il Toro E La Capra restaurant, was Trump’s fourth appearance in Las Vegas this year and the first since Harris rose to the top of the Democratic ticket last month, upending the presidential campaign and sparking a wave of enthusiasm among Democrats.

Trump had led in the polls in Nevada all year before Democrats replaced President Joe Biden with Harris, and his campaign had considered Nevada a foregone conclusion, but polls since then have shown it as a virtual tie. The former president — who crisscrossed swing states across the country this week during the Democratic National Convention — seemed unconcerned about the state of the Nevada race, saying, “I don’t know how we can lose it.”

In his 30-minute speeches to a group of about 50 invited guests (hundreds of supporters had gathered on the lower floor of the restaurant), Trump championed the economy during his presidency, promised not to tax social benefits and addressed directly the members of the Culinary Union, the union that represents about 60,000 hospitality workers in Nevada and supports Harris.

“Can we get the Culinary Union to maybe vote for Trump?” the former president asked to applause from the crowd. “Because they’re great people. They always have a leader who’s a Democrat… even if the Republican is better – and a lot of Republicans aren’t better – but I’m much better, and I’m the one who got this thing done.”

Despite the lead in the polls, the Trump campaign has long lagged behind Democrats in terms of staff and physical infrastructure, but is expanding its presence in Nevada. A campaign spokesperson said the Trump campaign has five offices in the state (Central Las Vegas, Spring Valley, Henderson, Centennial Hills and Reno) and is working with the Republican National Committee on “Trump Force 47” to connect volunteers with local organizations and campaign activities. The Harris campaign has 14 offices across the state.

No tax on tips

Trump first brought up the idea of ​​abolishing the tax on tips at a rally in Las Vegas in mid-June. He said he got the idea from a waiter in his restaurant on the Strip.

Politicians in Nevada also jumped in. Sam Brown, the Republican Senate candidate, said Trump had “exhausted” his idea. Culinary Workers Union Local 226 – which calls Trump a rogue messenger trying to curry favor with voters – supported a congressional proposal by Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) to deduct tips from federal income taxes. Democrats in Nevada, including Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nevada) and Jacky Rosen (D-Nevada), also signed onto the proposal in mid-July.

Trump, who repeatedly mispronounced Harris’ first name, said Harris was not taking the proposal seriously.

“She’s a copycat,” Trump said. “She’s a turnaround. She’s the greatest turnaround in history. She went from communism to capitalism in about two weeks.”

This opinion was shared by the participants.

Krista Logue, a 45-year-old Starbucks barista, stressed that “Trump proposed it first.” She believes the extra money from the tax cut would go a long way for her and her husband, who also works in the service sector and relies primarily on tips – especially now that the couple has a child.

Logue found Harris’ acceptance of the proposal somewhat opportunistic, but still appreciated that the idea was gaining traction.

“When he was president, we had a good economy,” she said. “Everything was going really well, and now we’re in trouble.”

The electoral implications of the policy proposal are huge in Nevada, which has the highest percentage of tipped workers of any state, not to mention political battlegrounds. Trump released a new ad on Friday, titled “Here’s a Tip” — in which he attacks Harris for “weaponizing the IRS to confiscate your tips.”

The language of the ad is disingenuous, referring to an early 2023 IRS proposal that would allow employers already operating under tip compliance agreements with the IRS that were entered into more than 20 years ago to voluntarily use new technology to simplify compliance. Tips are already subject to federal income tax — so both candidates support the idea of ​​ending that policy.

Get the loan

Trump wants credit for his policies – and the votes of tipped workers, including rank-and-file members of the Culinary Union. In 2020, he lost about 2.5 percentage points in Nevada, 16 percentage points among voters earning less than $50,000 a year, and 18 percentage points among unionized households, according to election day polls.

Trump said his internal polls showed that “many” Culinary members would support him and suggested a meeting with union leader and treasurer Ted Pappageorge.

A Culinary spokesperson declined to comment.

While political opponents have argued for the abolition of the tip tax, labor economists warn that the benefits could be concentrated on those who earn the most in tips – such as waiters in fine restaurants – while at the same time giving companies more incentive to keep wages low.

Neither Trump nor Harris have provided many details, such as whether payroll taxes will be included, whether there will be an income cap, whether the benefit will be limited to certain industries such as hospitality, and whether it will be structured as a deduction or an exemption.

But Nicole Williams, a bartender on the Las Vegas Strip for 15 years and mother of seven who attended Friday’s event, said it would help people like her.

Rising prices have forced them to cut back on activities like gymnastics and flag football for their children. Eliminating the tip tax, Williams said, would be a saving grace.

“It’s so frustrating when I look at my check and see that not only my wages but also tips are being taxed,” Williams said. “This will provide immediate relief to my wallet and my seven children.”

On Friday, Trump did not comment on specific policy details, saying only that the plan would benefit both workers and employers and that workers would be happier and therefore do better work because of the tax breaks.

On the border and other topics

Trump also used the opportunity to make a direct appeal to Hispanic voters: He said that the household wealth of the average Hispanic family had increased by 65 percent during his term in office and that unemployment among Hispanics had reached an all-time low.

Census Bureau data shows that the median income of Hispanic households rose by about 8 percent between 2016 and 2020. While unemployment among Hispanics fell significantly during the Trump era, reaching the 3.9 percent mark that Biden reached in 2022, the pandemic pushed it to a 50-year high, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

Beyond the tips, Trump reiterated his proposal to eliminate the federal tax on Social Security benefits, which about 40 percent of welfare recipients pay – a concept popular among retirees but that economists fear would hasten the program’s insolvency.

And he also promised to cut energy prices in half, introduce universal school choice that would allow any student to attend a private school using taxpayer-funded education vouchers, and carry out the “largest deportation in American history.”

He claimed that migrants crossing the border – including prisoners from the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is false – had taken jobs from blacks and Hispanics, and that union jobs were next.

Although his advisers urged him to focus on the economy, Trump used several asides to attack Biden and Harris: calling them both the worst presidents and vice presidents in U.S. history, calling Biden angry and confused, and mocking the way Harris said “thank you” at the Democratic National Convention.

After his speech, he also answered questions from reporters, including one about releasing federal land in Nevada for affordable housing (which has bipartisan support), to which he replied, “We want land so we can have housing.”