‘I came here to thank the people of Nevada for giving us such a big win,’ Trump says to Vegas crowd

President Donald Trump vowed to work with Congress to eliminate taxes on tipped income during a Las Vegas rally Saturday — a campaign promise he made in the same city seven months before.

“Any other worker that relies on tipped income, your tips will be 100 percent yours,” Trump said to a crowd of hundreds at Circa in downtown Las Vegas.

The newly sworn-in president made the comments at an event celebrating his victory and Nevada’s role in it. The battleground state voted for him 50.6 to 47.5 percent — making him the first Republican presidential candidate to win the state in 20 years. The Silver State was one of seven swing states whose Electoral College votes both presidential candidates campaigned for heavily leading up to the election.

“I just came here because I wanted to thank the people of Nevada for giving us such a big win,” Trump said, with the crowd starting a U-S-A chant.

Trump long said Nevada would play a big role in the 2024 election, saying “if we win Nevada, we win the whole thing” during a June rally at Sunset Park in Las Vegas.

Nevada GOP Chairman Michael McDonald, a longtime supporter and friend of Trump, spoke ahead of the president and said, “we did it,” highlighting supporters’ grassroots campaign efforts.

People draped Trump flags around themselves as they waited for the president and danced to songs like “Thunderstruck” by AC/DC and “If I Can Dream” by Elvis.

Las Vegas celebrity and Trump supporter Rick Harrison also made an appearance ahead of the president’s speech.

“He is doing everything he said he was going to do,” the “Pawn Stars” personality said.

First week in the books

During his speech, Trump highlighted the work he did his first week, from withdrawing from the World Health Organization and the Paris Climate Accords to starting the “largest deregulation campaign” and getting rid of “all the woke crap” — which received loud applause from the crowd.

He listed his other actions, including pardoning of Jan. 6 rioters and declassifying documents related to the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., and issuing an order declaring there are only two genders.

Trump also highlighted what he called his “largest deregulation campaign” and his plans to “drill, baby, drill” — a campaign slogan about his domestic energy production goals.

In a statement, Nevada State Democratic Party Chair Daniele Monroe-Moreno criticized Trump’s actions he took his first week, from “pardoning violent January 6th rioters and attempting to change the Constitution and end birthright citizenship by executive order.”

She said his executive orders to halt funding for projects funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act would result in the loss of jobs and harm Nevada’s economy.

‘No tax on tips’ impact

With “No Tax on Tips” as a backdrop behind him, Trump said he will work with Congress to pass tax cuts for families, including ending taxes on tipped income. He told the story about how a waitress gave him the idea to end taxes on tips, and credited her with helping win his election.

Over 4 million workers depend on tipped income, and in Nevada, a quarter of restaurant workers’ pay comes from tips, he said.

His plan to ban taxes on tipped income was first announced at that June rally, one of his many campaign trips to Clark County, and it became a major talking point throughout the election.

Elected officials on both sides of the aisle in Nevada, whose workforce relies heavily on tips, have expressed support for the legislation, with members of Nevada’s federal congressional delegation drafting bills of their own.

Nevada’s Sen. Jacky Rosen co-sponsored a bill with Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, to bar taxes on tips, and Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev., co-sponsored similar legislation on the House side.

Experts, however, have said ending taxes on tips would have a nominal impact on Nevadans and would not 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. Silver State workers earn at least $12 per hour, while other states allow employees to pay their workers as low as $2.13 hourly if they earn tips on the job.

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 had also brought up concerns the policy would discourage employers from paying fair wages as well as result in people giving less tips.

Horsford, who put forward his own bill to end taxes on tips coupled with ending the federal sub-minimum wage, said in a statement Friday that Trump’s proposal doesn’t go far enough and leaves in place the sub-minimum wage of $2.13. He also said the proposal leaves loopholes in place that allow the rich to “evade taxes by gifting their fortunes to family members as ‘tips,’” and that the proposal does not differentiate between payroll and income taxes.

“Instead of touting half-measures to Nevadans, President Trump should learn from us,” Horsford said in a statement. “Our state ended the sub-minimum wage because we care about our workers, and we balk at loopholes for the ultra-rich because we believe in everyone paying their fair share.”

Contact Jessica Hill at jehill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @jess_hillyeah on X.