LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Former president Donald Trump was in Las Vegas to pitch his “No Taxes on Tips” policy, during which he also took several swipes at his opponent Vice President Kamala Harris.
Trump spoke at the Mexican-Italian restaurant II Toro e La Capra Friday afternoon, which is owned by the same family that runs the Lindo Michoacan restaurants. Owner Javier Barajas spoke in support of Trump and his policy of “No Taxes on Tips.”
Trump first announced the policy in June at his Sunset Park rally. On Friday, he said it would help save American restaurants.
“I will never let that happen under the Trump administration, you will keep your tips and restaurant workers will keep all of your hard-earned money,” Trump said.
All of Nevada’s democrats have endorsed the idea of not taxing tips. Even Harris during her Las Vegas visit two weeks ago said she’s for it.
But Trump criticized her on Friday for stealing his thunder.
“Kamala Harris is now pretending to endorse my policy, she’s got a lot of other policies. She’s a copycat. She’s a flip-flopper. She’s the greatest flip-flopper in history. She went from communism to capitalism in a few weeks,” Trump said.
Democratic President Joe Biden visited the Lindo Michoacan restaurant on Desert Inn and Topaz back in July. It was his last stop before his campaign announced he had COVID, and before he dropped out of the race.
The Trump-Vance campaign is also running three separate ads in Las Vegas focusing on the policy of “No Taxes on Tips.”
Last week announced a proposal that would add three million affordable homes in four years across the country, and use some of Nevada’s federal lands to do that. Trump was asked about that.
“We have so much land and we want to put it to use. So we’re going to have land release and on that land, we’re going to build housing. We’re going to have housing built and it’s going to be great for Nevada and it’ll be great for other areas,” Trump said.
Trump also stated it was unfair that Biden dropped out of the race.
“I spent 100 million dollars fighting against the man that won in their party. And we had a debate, and the debate was good for me, it wasn’t good for him. And then all of a sudden they took him out and they put somebody new that never got a vote,” Trump said.
U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev) characterized Trump’s “No Taxes on Tips” push as a bluff to curry political favor in Nevada.
The Harris campaign issued a statement on Trump’s visit saying:
“Nevada workers know Donald Trump as someone who screws them over every chance he gets. He oversaw the loss of 25,000 Nevada jobs as president, killed overtime protections for 70,000 workers, and now he’s running on wildly out of touch plans to raise taxes on families by $3,900. Trump’s Project 2025 agenda would specifically target our unions, gutting worker protections and making it harder to organize. Nevadans know Trump doesn’t have our back, and workers here are coming together to defeat him just like we did last time.”
