Former President Donald Trump recently put forward a proposal to exempt service-sector workers’ tips from taxes. 

At a recent Nevada rally, Trump told his supporters that “hotel workers” and “people that get tips” are “going to be very happy, because when I get to office, we are going to not charge taxes on tips.”

He continued, “We’re going to do that right away, first thing in office, because it’s been a point of contention for years and years and years, and you do a great job of service.”

This program is not novel. Former Congressman Ron Paul put forward this idea back during his presidential campaign on February 1, 2012. 

At a press conference, Paul highlighted his plan to halt federal taxation of tips. This plan was met with loud applause from the crowd. Nevada, thanks to its illustrious tourist hub of Las Vegas,  has 20% of ite workforce employed in the service sector.

From a podium at the Four Seasons Hotel ballroom, Paul declared that Las Vegas “is a city that could benefit rather quickly from one little proposal: Make sure that the United States government does not tax tips at all.”

He believes that such a proposal would be less paperwork for businessmen and providers of services, many of which he believes are “working on the margin,” especially if they spend on such jobs for full-time employment. However, he even said  part-time workers who depend on tips would also benefit.

The tip-earner, he detailed, “might be a student. Here we are, we have students struggling, they want to pay their way through college, and we want to encourage them. So we tax their tips, and then they come up short, and then we say, ‘Oh, what we need to do is give you a loan and put you further into debt.’ It makes no sense!”

Although Paul did not end up receiving the GOP nomination in 2012, his ideas have continued to reverberate in the American electorate. Undoubtedly, Paul is still having an impact in certain segments of the GOP and history books will be kind to him as America continues to spiral out of control all thanks to the very policies of big government, easy money, and perpetual wars that he warned about for decades.