Donald Trump calls for ending taxes on tips, drawing mixed reaction from Republicans

WASHINGTON — In his private meeting with Senate Republicans last week, former President Donald Trump joked that a new campaign pitch has made him very popular with the caddies at his golf course near Mar-a-Lago: ending taxes on money earned from tips.

It’s an idea that was cheered in the room of senators and one that Trump is likely to return to as he courts working-class voters in swing states with large service industries, like Nevada, Arizona and Georgia, in his rematch this fall with President Joe Biden.

But it's unclear whether the election-year talking point will materialize as a serious policy plan on Capitol Hill. Several influential Republicans told NBC News they're skeptical of the idea, citing the rising national debt and questioning whether it would be fair to earners who don't make tips.

Trump also mentioned his desire to end taxes on tips in an earlier meeting with House Republicans, said Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn, who added that Trump recounted to lawmakers how a waitress gave him the idea.

“This thing has really just organically caught fire,” Burchett, a Trump ally, said Monday, calling Trump's proposal “smart politics.”

Three GOP senators who listened to Trump’s remarks in a separate closed-door meeting mentioned his tax-and-tips pitch, unprompted, as they left last week. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, a onetime Trump rival, said that the idea is “terrific” and that it could shift voter perceptions of the parties.

“For someone that’s working as a waiter or waitress or someone that’s working as a taxicab driver or someone who’s working as a bellhop at a hotel, there are a lot of people who are starting to climb the economic ladder who rely on tips,” said Cruz, who faces his own re-election battle this year in