Americans Support Eliminating Taxes on Tips

Sixty-three percent of Americans support the proposal to eliminate federal income and employment taxes on service workers’ tips. 

WHY IT MATTERS  
On June 9, former President Donald Trump introduced a proposal to eliminate taxes on tips. A few weeks later, a bill to do so was introduced in Congress by Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX).  

HOW TO USE THIS DATA  
The results show the durable support for the proposal and suggest that at least one counterargument about it adding to the cost of living is not effective.  

Click on the image below to read the full report… or read the summary below.  

Key Takeaways 

  • Nearly 2-in-3 Americans support the proposal to eliminate federal income and employment taxes on service workers’ tips. 
  • Nearly 6-in-10 agree eliminating federal income and employment taxes on tips would encourage more people to work. 
  • After being asked about potentially being prompted to tip more often, and whether tipping potentially adds to the cost of living, support for eliminating taxes on tips dropped by just 2%, showing it is not an effective counterargument.  
Support for Eliminating Tip Taxation  
  • 63% support the proposal to eliminate federal income and employment taxes on workers’ tips, including 69% of Republicans, 62% of Democrats, and 68% of swing voters. 
  • 66% of New Majority and 56% of Left Minority voters support eliminating taxes on tips. 
  • Only 24% oppose this policy of eliminating taxes on tips. 
More Encouraged to Work 
  • 57% agree that eliminating federal income and employment taxes on workers’ tips would encourage more people to work, including 63% of Republicans, 56% of Democrats, and 52% of swing voters. 
  • Gen Z voters are the most likely to agree eliminating taxes on tips will encourage more people to work at 67%.  
  • 60% of New Majority and 47% of Left Minority voters agree that eliminating taxes on tips will encourage more people to work. 
Cost of Living and Inflation Made Worse by Increased Tipping  
  • 69% say they are being asked to tip more often than they used to, including 38% who say much more often.  
  • 60% agree that being asked to tip more often is adding to the cost of living and making inflation worse, including 65% of Republicans, 57% of Democrats, and 61% of swing voters. 
  • 31% say that if taxes on tips were eliminated, they would expect to be asked to tip more often. This includes 30% of Republicans and swing voters and 34% of Democrats. 
Little Shift in Opinion – Support for Eliminating Tip Taxation Remains Constant 
  • After being asked about potentially being prompted to tip more often, support for eliminating taxes on tips dropped by just 2%, showing it is not an effective counterargument.  
  • 61% support the proposal to eliminate federal income and employment taxes on workers’ tips, this includes 68% of Republicans, 60% of Democrats, and 56% of swing voters. 
  • There was only a 3% decrease in support for the proposal to eliminate federal income and employment taxes on workers’ tips among New Majority voters. 

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