Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.) officially introduced legislation on Tuesday seeking to eliminate federal taxes on tips, a proposal that both major presidential candidates have backed.
The Tipped Income Protection and Support (TIPS) Act would also eliminate subminimum wages for tipped workers, to “prevent employers or high-end earners from exploiting the elimination of federal taxation of tip,” Horsford said.
He announced the bill outside of the Capitol while members of the One Free Wage organization cheered him on.
“Today, I am proud to be introducing a bill because a disproportionate number of the 6 million tipped workers who are women and people of color make as little as $2.13 cents an hour, which really is poverty wages, at a time when families and workers are trying to afford the cost of living,” Horsford said at the event.
Horsford’s bill would exempt up to $112,500 of tips from income taxes for service workers across the country.
“Latinas and Black women in particular face significant pay disparities earning less than their white male counterparts. If we’re serious about income equality and closing the gender pay gap, then this is the bill that people need to get behind,” Horsford said.