Kamala Harris infuriates Republicans by copying Donald Trump’s promise not to tax tips

Kamala Harris has infuriated Donald Trump and Republicans by promising not to tax hospitality workers’ tips, the same pledge Trump made weeks ago.

Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally in Nevada. Picture: AFP.

In what amounts to her first campaign pledge as Democratic Party presidential nominee, Kamala Harris has copied Donald Trump’s promise to exempt tips for hospitality workers from taxation, infuriating a shell shocked Republican Party increasingly nursing underdog status.

At a campaign rally on the last stop of a whirlwind tour of battleground states with her freshly minted running mate Tim Walz, vice president Harris on Saturday (Sunday AEST) made a promise to end tax on tips in the same city, Las Vegas, Nevada, as Mr Trump had done in June.

“When I am president, we will continue our fight for working families of America, including to raise the minimum wage and eliminate taxes on tips for service and hospitality workers,” Ms Harris told the thousands of Democrat supporters, in a state where around a quarter of workers rely on the hospitality sector (the highest of any US state).

It was a campaign promise bound to inflame Republican criticisms that Ms Harris is bereft of original ideas and determined to avoid scrutiny from the media, as the first black woman to lead a major political party enjoys a political honeymoon that’s catapulted her to the lead in most national polls.

“The difference is, she won’t do it, she just wants it for Political Purposes! This was a TRUMP idea – She has no ideas, she can only steal from me,” Mr Trump, who spent the weekend campaigning in Montana and Wyoming, shot back on social media.

Since July 21st when president Joe Biden abandoned his presidential re-election campaign and endorsed Ms Harris, the vice president hasn’t held a press conference or granted an interview to any journalist, apart from some brief remarks on the airport tarmac where she agreed to a single debate with Mr Trump on 10th September.

Republicans and their supporters were quick to point out Ms Harris boasted of being the tie-breaking senate vote that saw passage of the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, which provided additional funding and staff for the Internal Revenue Service to crack down on tax avoidance in relation to tips.

🚨 JUST IN: President Trump ROASTS Kamala Harris for STEALING his “no tax on tips” policy https://t.co/C41COwYRLUpic.twitter.com/qCxiTro60W

— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) August 11, 2024

But Republican attacks on Harris and Mr Walz haven’t been sufficient for the Trump campaign to maintain a lead it enjoyed when Joe Biden was the presumptive candidate, and Mr Trump has come under attack for allegedly curtailing his campaigning and making increasingly outrageous statements.

“The first Debate with Kamala Harris, for President of the United States of America, will be with FoxNews on September 4th, 2024, LIVE from beautiful Harrisburg, Pennsylvania,” he posted on social media overnight, even though the Harris campaign has not agreed only to a September 10 debate hosted by ABC.

Ms Harris now leads Mr Trump by more than two percentage points in the average of respected national polls tracked by poll aggregator 538, 45.7 per cent to 43.4 per cent, a reversal of the situation a few weeks ago when a resurgent Trump was facing off against the embattled president Biden.

She has pulled ahead of Mr Trump in political betting markets too on the question of who is most likely to be elected in November, enjoying a 56 per cent probability of victory, better odds than Joe Biden ever had as the party’s candidate.

In her limited tarmac interaction with reporters last week Ms Harris also promised to do one interview “before the end of the month”, a few hours after Mr Trump convened a 70 minute press conference at his Mar A Lago home, a promise the New York Post called “an offensive joke”.

Wow! @KamalaHarris had to take a question today after Trump took 40 in an hour. She said she’d like to do an interview…BEFORE THE END OF THE MONTH! It’s August 8!!!
pic.twitter.com/CpbLmloscT

— Garret Lewis (@GarretLewis) August 8, 2024

Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance, who has take up the lion’s share of campaigning and interviews in recent days, accused Ms Harris of being “chameleon” for changing her policies without explanation on fracking, immigration, taxation and other top issues.

“She’s not running a political campaign. She’s running a movie. She only speaks to voters behind a teleprompter. Everything is scripted. She doesn’t have her policy positions out there … She hasn’t answered, I think, a single tough question from a reporter. So yeah, one of my jobs is to get out there,” he told CBS on Sunday (Monday AEST).

The Vice President was due to attend a major fundraising event in San Francisco on Sunday (Monday AEST) with her running mate Tim Walz and Democrat powerbroker Nancy Pelosi before returning to Washington, an event that will cap a successful week of campaigning.