Daily Times

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris agree on very little, but the two presidential rivals have found common ground in calling for the elimination of taxes on tips — a populist move that many criticize as economically irresponsible.

Trump was the first to announce his plan earlier this summer, while Harris surprised supporters with a similar policy this past week.

It’s no coincidence that both candidates made their pledges in Nevada — a crucial battleground state which has the highest relative number of waiting staff in the United States, according to the US Labor Department.

Tipping culture in the United States is fundamentally different from most other countries, as customers are encouraged to tip generously on everything from take-out coffee to cocktails. A tip ranging between 15 and 20 percent of the price is considered normal at most restaurants. It is still legal in some US states for employers to pay tipped workers as little as $2.13 per hour — well below the federal minimum wage of $7.25 — so long as their tips make up the difference. With such a significant chunk of service-sector wages coming from tips, it’s not surprising that the policy has such broad appeal — even if many economists and think tanks do not like it. “There’s no particular reason that, in general, people in the service industry should pay lower taxes than somebody on the factory line, or somebody that’s providing nursing care,” Marc Goldwein, the senior vice president of the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB), told AFP.