Trump wants to end tip taxes, a low priority for restaurant workers
A labor group that favors higher base pay called Donald Trump’s proposal a “fake solution” but urged Democrats to “pay some more attention” to living wage issues.
Donald Trump wants to eliminate taxes on tips, hoping to shore up support among service workers. Some aren’t impressed.
“The call to end taxes on tips is just a misguided way of trying to fix a problem of uplifting the lower class,” said Elyanna Calle, 21, a manager and bartender at the Beer Plant, an Austin-based vegan restaurant who’s also an organizer for Restaurant Workers United, a grassroots labor group.
The policy debate comes amid sturdy pay and hiring gains for blue-collar and part-time workers, even as higher living costs weigh on households’ finances and economic outlooks.
Elyanna Calle.Courtesy Anjelica CalleWhile the hospitality industry continues to add jobs, many hotels, bars and restaurants are hitting the brakes on hiring and pay as more consumers tighten their going-out budgets. That has fueled labor advocates’ calls to bolster service workers’ livelihoods in a hotly contested election year.
“Trump and the Republicans are noting the polling that shows that the absolute top issue for our population — and frankly most populations this cycle — is the rising cost of living and jobs with living wages,” said Saru Jayaraman, president of the labor advocacy group One Fair Wage and director of the Food Labor Research Center at University of California, Berkeley. “We wish that Democrats would pay some more attention.”
Rating: 5