By james art 
President Donald Trump pledged to work with Congress to eliminate taxes on tip income during a rally in Las Vegas on Saturday, a campaign promise he made in the same city months earlier.
“Every worker who relies on tip income, your tips are going to be 100 percent,” Trump told a crowd of hundreds at Circa in downtown Las Vegas, amid “No Tax on Tipping.”
Trump made the comments at a rally celebrating his victory and Nevada’s role in it.
“I came here to thank the people of Nevada for giving us such a great victory,” Trump said to applause.
The announcement is the latest in a series of executive orders the president has issued in the first week of his second administration, covering a wide range of topics, from immigration to trade to federal hiring.
His plan to ban taxes on tip income was first announced in June 2024. on one of his many campaign trips to Clark County and became a major talking point during the election.
Elected officials on both sides of the aisle in Nevada, whose workforce relies heavily on tips, have voiced support for the legislation, with members of Nevada’s federal congressional delegation drafting their own bills.
Nevada Sen. Jackie Rosen sponsored a bill with Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, to ban tip taxes, and Congressman Stephen Horsford, D-Nev., co-sponsored similar legislation on the House side.
But experts said ending tip taxes would have a nominal impact on Nevadans and wouldn’t be the best way to help workers, many of whom see more tax returns than tax bills.
Nevada is one of seven states without a sub-minimum wage option for tipped workers. Employees in the Silver State earn at least $12 an hour, while other states allow employees to pay their workers as low as $2.13 an hour if they earn tips for work.
For many, their earnings and the tax credits they qualify for result in more tax returns than tax bills, according to Andrew Woods, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at UNLV, who spoke in a previous Review-Journal report.
Woods also expressed concern that the policy would discourage employers from paying fair wages, as well as lead to people tipping less.
Horsford, who has proposed his own bill to end tip taxes combined with an end to the minimum wage, said in a statement Friday that Trump’s proposal does not go far enough and leaves the federal minimum wage of $2.13 in place. He also said the proposal leaves loopholes that allow the wealthy to “avoid taxes by donating their wealth to family members as ‘gratuities'” and that the proposal does not distinguish between payroll taxes and income taxes.
“Instead of promoting half-hearted measures to Nevadans, President Trump should learn from us,” Horsford said in a statement. “Our state eliminated the sub-minimum wage because we care about our workers and oppose loopholes for the super-rich because we believe everyone pays their fair share.”
Nevada Republican Party Chairman Michael McDonald, a longtime Trump supporter and friend, spoke before the president and said, “We did it,” highlighting the work supporters did to elect Trump in Nevada, which had not elected a Republican president in 20 Mr. years.
People draped Trump flags around them as they waited for the president and danced to songs like AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” and Elvis’ “If I Can Dream.”
Las Vegas celebrity and Trump supporter Rick Harrison also appeared before the president’s speech.
“He’s doing everything he said he was going to do,” Harrison said.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Contact Jessica Hill at [email protected]. Follow @jess_hillyeah on X.