When former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris proposed eliminating the tip tax, they saw it as an easy way to give their employees a well-deserved raise. Assets I spoke to several business owners whose employees receive part of their wages as tips. All of them welcomed the initiative, saying that their employees would benefit from it.

“I may be a unicorn here, but I care about my employees making as much money as possible and improving their livelihoods and the lives of their families,” said Carl Sobocinski, founder and president of Table 301 Restaurant Group, which owns five restaurants in Greenville, SC.

Chris Stephens, who handles PR for his wife Maria’s Boston-based tour guide company, Boston Hidden Gems, said they are excited about what this could mean for their guides, who he estimates earn between 20 and 30 percent of their salary in tips. “We would love it for our staff because it would mean more money in their pocket,” he said.

At Sobocinski’s restaurants, most of the waiters’ income comes from tips. Sobocinski and his chief financial officer, Richard Vogt, have crunched the numbers and estimated that waiters could save an average of 16 to 19 percent in taxes if the rule were to go into effect. At his restaurants, the average waiter, who makes about $48,000 a year, of which $41,000 is tips, would save $6,600 in taxes, he said. AssetsMeanwhile, the highest-paid waiters, who earn $81,000 a year and get $69,000 in tips, would take home an additional $13,000 a year, according to Vogt’s calculations.

Although the policy proposal was intended to benefit workers, it would also benefit companies themselves, according to Keith Hall, a labor economist at George Mason University’s Mercatus Center. “Anything related to taxing workers is borne by both the employee and the employer,” Hall said.

Entrepreneurs could offer higher real wages without incurring additional costs – an offer that is particularly attractive in the catering industry, where margins are razor-thin.

“For me as a business owner, it’s a win-win situation,” said David Viana, co-owner and executive chef of Heirloom Kitchen, a restaurant in Old Bridge, NJ

According to Hall, this could give employers an incentive to convert a larger portion of their employees’ salaries into tips. On the one hand, because employees want this, and on the other hand, because it would reduce their own payroll and the payroll taxes that companies have to pay.

Viana, Sobocinski and Stephens all said they have no plans to change the way they compensate their employees, but they acknowledged that tips would become much more attractive. Still, they stressed the importance of increasing their employees’ take-home pay given the rising cost of living.

Restaurants “are the last bastion of people in this country who have a chance at a middle-income income,” Viana said. “In my opinion, the jobs that offer a living wage are dying out.”

Eliminating the tip tax would make an industry known for hard work more attractive, Viana added. “It’s another way for an industry that has a bad reputation in many ways – because of the way we treat our employees, because we can’t provide them with health insurance and things like that – to put more money in individual people’s pockets.”

Stephens, the tour guide, saw one scenario in which the policy could backfire: People saw it as an excuse to tip less. “From the customer’s perspective, the point of tipping in general is to support the specific person or group you’re giving. If you as a customer can spend less and still give the same amount, then why wouldn’t you do just that?” he said.