LAS VEGAS (Reuters) – Vice President Kamala Harris told supporters in Nevada on Saturday she supported eliminating taxes on tips, taking a similar position to her rival Donald Trump in an effort to win over service workers, an important constituency in the state.
“It is my promise to everyone here when I am president we will continue to fight for working families, including to raise the minimum wage and eliminate taxes on tips for service and hospitality workers,” Harris said.
Harris said she would work to drive down consumer prices, vowing to “take on big corporations that engage in illegal price-gouging” – corporate landlords that unfairly raise rents on working families – and big pharmaceutical companies to lower drug prices.
While Harris was still speaking in Las Vegas, Trump responded on his social media site Truth Social.
“Kamala Harris, whose “Honeymoon” period is ENDING, and is starting to get hammered in the Polls, just copied my NO TAXES ON TIPS Policy. The difference is, she won’t do it, she just wants it for Political Purposes! This was a TRUMP idea – She has no ideas, she can only steal from me,” Trump wrote.
Trump told a rally in Las Vegas in June that he would seek to end taxation of income from tips.
Harris and her Democratic running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, wrapped up a multi-day tour of battleground states on Saturday with their stop in Nevada, a western state that could play a pivotal role in the Nov. 5 presidential election.
The pair had already campaigned in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Arizona, all states that traditionally swing between supporting Republicans and Democrats in presidential elections.
She will travel to San Francisco in her home state of California on Sunday, where she is due to attend a fundraiser with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Nearly 700 people are expected at the event, which is expected to raise more than $12 million, a campaign official said.