MILWAUKEE — Over recent weeks, former President Donald Trump has seemingly struck political gold among his disciples with a new policy proposal — “no tax on tips.”
During his headline speech at the Republican National Convention Thursday, Trump, 78, revealed the origin story of how that policy idea came to be.
It stemmed from a conversation Trump had with a server at a restaurant in Nevada, he explained.
“It turned out to be very popular, actually. Here it’s is very popular — with this building and all those hotels … It’s called no tax on tips,” Trump began, drawing loud cheers from the crowd.
“I got that by having dinner recently in Nevada,” he went on as the crowd shouted, “No tax on tips.”
Trump explained that the server — “a very nice person” — came up to him and he made small talk about how things were going. Then she explained that “the government’s after me all the time on tips, tips, tips.”
The 45th president recounted asking her about how that worked, assuming that the tips took the form of cash, but the server told him that most of the tips entailed “very little cash,” according to his account.
“They come in and they take so much of our money, it’s just ridiculous,” he said she bemoaned.
“I said, ‘Let me just ask you a question, would you be happy if you had no tax on tips?’ She said, ‘What a great idea,’” Trump recounted.
“I got my information from a very smart waitress.”
Trump then quipped that she was better informed than the consultants.
During his speech, Trump boasted about the tax cuts he secured during his first administration and pledged to pursue additional cuts if he reclaims the White House, while also vowing to reduce the debt.
Trump eschewed specifics as to how he would achieve such a feat.