President Trump returned to Nevada on Saturday to cap off a blistering first week in office to thank voters in the swing state for supporting him and re-up his promise to include no tax on tips in an impending tax package.
His visit to the Silver State is his first since the election and comes after he crisscrossed the country to visit disaster sites in North Carolina and California.
Mr. Trump touched on his breakneck pace since being sworn in on Monday, having signed roughly 350 executive orders that span the gamut of many of his campaign promises, or at least get the ball rolling on some.
But one that wasn’t dealt with in that flurry of black, leatherbound notebooks lined with paper gilded with the presidential seal were promises Mr. Trump made to eliminate taxes on tips. That change, of course, will fall onto the shoulders of Congress.
Indeed, Congress is hammering out a plan for the filibuster-proof budget reconciliation process, which will act as a vehicle for much of Mr. Trump’s agenda, and perhaps most prominently, try to prevent his 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act from sunsetting at the end of the year.
Mr. Trump promised that the bill would include his pledge for no tax on tips.
“If you’re a restaurant worker, a server, a valet, a bell hop, bartender, one of my caddies — I go through caddies like candy, If I play badly, I always blame my caddy — or any other worker who relies on tipped income, your tips will be 100% yours,“ Mr. Trump said.
Mr. Trump first floated no tax on tips or overtime while on the campaign trail in Nevada in a bid to court the state’s massive hospitality industry. Roughly a quarter of the swing state’s workforce works in the service industry, according to data from the Nevada Labor Market.
Lawmakers are already throwing around ways to enact Mr. Trump’s promises into law. Indeed, the House Budget Committee released a 50-page list of areas to trim and spend during Congress’ budget reconciliation process, including proposals for no tax on tips and overtime.
However, moving ahead with those plans could result in a combined $856 billion loss in revenue over the next decade. That, coupled with an estimated price tag of roughly $5 trillion to extend Mr. Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, could draw pushback from debt hawks who are pushing for spending cuts to hack away at the federal deficit.
The president attributed his surprise victory in the Silver State to that promise.
Mr. Trump won Nevada over former Vice President Kamala Harris after failing to do so in 2016 and 2020. Indeed, Mr. Trump won the state by over three points in November’s election, after losing by nearly two-and-a-half points in the previous two election cycles.
“I wanted to come to Nevada to pay my respects, because this is the only Republican win of this state in decades and it was a very big landslide sign,” Mr. Trump said. “But I think Republicans are going to win a lot now.”
• Alex Miller can be reached at amiller@washingtontimes.com.