The Senate unexpectedly passed the No Tax on Tips Act on Tuesday, moving one of President Donald Trump’s major campaign promises much closer to becoming law. Adding to the surprise was the way it advanced: Sen. Jacky Rosen, a Nevada Democrat, simply asked if anyone was opposed to it passing — and none of her fellow senators objected.
It was a rare moment of bipartisan agreement in the Republican-controlled chamber. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, first introduced the bill with backing from seven of his colleagues, including Rosen and fellow Nevadan Democrat Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto. Here’s how NBC News described the bill:
The legislation would create a tax deduction worth up to $25,000 for tips, limited to cash tips that workers report to employers for withholding purposes on payroll taxes. The tax break would also be restricted to employees who earn $160,000 or less in 2025, an amount that will rise with inflation in coming years.
A Democrat pushing through a Trump priority feels out of sync with the Democratic base’s clamor for more confrontation with the unpopular administration. After all, the adage that “all politics is local” can seem quaint in an age in which issues are more often seen through a national lens. But the No Tax on Tips Act’s provenance shows that some things never change.
It makes sense that Rosen and Cortez Masto both signed onto the bill given their narrow re-election victories
Trump first suggested that tipped workers shouldn’t pay taxes on those wages during a campaign stop in Las Vegas last year. It was a pretty shameless ploy to get the support of the thousands of service industry employees in a competitive state, but one that managed to stick. When she entered the race last summer, Vice President Kamala Harris took up a version of the idea as her own. (There are major concerns from tax experts and labor activists given how little most tipped workers pay in federal taxes anyway; raising the wildly low $2.13 minimum wage for those workers would likely be a much bigger boost for their bank accounts.)
It makes sense that Rosen and Cortez Masto both signed onto the bill given their narrow re-election victories: Rosen won by 1.5% last year; Cortez Masto squeaked by with an even smaller margin in 2022. “Nevada has more tipped workers per capita than any other state. So this bill would mean immediate financial relief for countless hard-working families,” Rosen said Tuesday. “No Tax on Tips was one of President Trump’s key promises to the American people, which he unveiled in my state of Nevada. And I am not afraid to embrace a good idea, wherever it comes from.”
The question is whether Rosen and Cortez Masto will actually reap the political benefits from getting behind this policy. A temporary version — slated to last only until 2028 — is currently part of the megabill that Republicans hope to pass. Rosen and Cortez Masto likely won’t back that bill in the Senate, and it’s unclear if the House will take up Cruz’s legislation separately anytime soon. Combined with Trump’s tendency to claim credit even for things that he had nothing to do with, Nevada’s senators may find it hard to convince voters that they had any hand in putting whatever extra cash this bill might eventually generate in their pockets.