Donald Trump Pledged No Taxes on Tips – Where Does That Promise Stand Today?

In 2024, Donald Trump promised to end federal taxes on tips received by service workers, but has he fulfilled his promise? How realistic was this promise? Is there any hope that it will become a reality during his presidency?

With the flood of political activity, conflicting narratives, and confusion regarding what exactly is happening in our government, it’s understandable to have no idea what is going on, or what legislation is real. We looked into the details and found some solid answers (at least for now).

Background on the Promise

Because Trump’s first term as president overwhelmingly benefitted the wealthy and resulted in one of the largest wealth transfers from the poor and middle class to the rich, he needed to do something different during the 2024 presidential campaign in order to secure the vote of the working class.

As a result, he made a number of promises including eliminating taxes on tips received by restaurant workers, gig workers, and delivery drivers, eliminating taxes on overtime pay, and eliminating taxes on Social Security. He promised that “we are going to do that right away, first thing in office”.

However, many experts doubted the efficacy of eliminating taxes on tips for a number of reasons.

First, many people under-report the amount of tips they receive, so the savings will be minimal at best.

Second, the tax break favors some service workers more than others, and providing an overall tax break for the working class would be more effective than just targeting tips.

Third, restaurants and other service-industry companies will have more incentive to manipulate the tips they receive to take advantage of their workers.

Fourth, it is a meaningless promise that likely wouldn’t achieve any noticeable savings for workers while giving Trump more room to provide tax cuts for the rich.

Fifth, a huge proportion of the people in the United States who are tipped as part of their work don’t make enough money to pay federal income taxes, so it would have no benefit for them.

Did he Keep His Promise?

As of March 2025, Trump has not kept his promise.

Republicans in the House of Representatives passed their first budget resolution in February, which was their first opportunity to include any of the promises Trump made on the campaign trail, but they did not. Neither did Trump introduce his ideas as a bill to Congress.

Despite users on social media claiming that the budget resolution did include tax cuts for tips, Social Security, and more. It did not.

Republicans have proposed legislation that would address taxes on tips, but none have received a vote, and Trump has not made any public comments about his promises.

However, he could still propose tax changes in the months to come. It wouldn’t be “the first thing” like he promised it would be, and he has made no comments or promises since the election, but the opportunity is there.

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