At a campaign rally Sunday in sweltering hot Las Vegas, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump told the crowd he would seek to end taxation of income from tips, a direct appeal to service workers in the swing state of Nevada, which polls suggest is leaning his way ahead of the 5 November election.
That promise reveals one more point to a vague Trump tax plan that has so far included pledges of tax relief to middle-income workers and small businesses. Current law requires tipped employees to report those tips as income.
“So this is the first time I’ve said this, and for those hotel workers and people that get tips, you’re going to be very happy because when I get to office, we are going to not charge taxes on tips people [are] making,” the former president told a crowd of several thousand people in Nevada, one of the top battleground states in the November election.
Trump said he would “do that right away, first thing in office”, and noted in prepared remarks that he would seek legislation in Congress to make the change. “You do a great job of service, you take care of people and I think it’s going to be something that really is deserved.”
Trump has previously pledged to make permanent the Republican-passed individual tax cuts that he signed into law in 2017 but which expire at the end of 2025. Tax experts estimate that doing so would raise US deficits by some $4tn over a decade compared to current forecasts.
This is Trump’s second rally since he was found guilty on 30 May of falsifying documents to cover up a payment to an adult film actor on the eve of the 2016 election. The unprecedented conviction of a US president, current or former, has juiced Trump’s fundraising and galvanized his supporters, but it remains to be seen whether it will sway swing voters.
The rally took place amid blistering heat where temperatures reached 100F (38C), according to the national weather service.
Temperatures in the south-west have cooled since reaching historic highs late last week, but remain above normal for this time of year.
Campaign organizers prepared for the sweltering weather with water bottles, misting fans and additional emergency medical services on site. The US Secret Service made an exception to allow people to bring in personal water bottles and umbrellas.
Clark county fire department confirmed that at least six people were hospitalized and 24 received medical attention for heat-related symptoms during the rally.
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Alex Maldonado, a 50-year-old father of three, said he was worried about the heat but wanted to come out to support Trump, for whom he plans to vote a third time. He said he feels Biden has failed in handling inflation, the southern border and crime.
“I tried to give him [Biden] a chance in 2020,” said Maldonado, a military veteran who works security at a Las Vegas casino. “But everything in life has been made harder.”
During a Trump rally in Arizona on Thursday, the Phoenix police department said 11 people were transported to hospitals, treated and released for heat exhaustion. Many of Trump’s supporters waited in line for hours and some were unable to get inside before the venue reached capacity. The temperature reached a record 113F (45C) that day.
Nevada is one of six or seven swing states likely to determine the election. A Fox News survey conducted after the guilty verdict showed Trump ahead of Biden in Nevada by five percentage points, an advantage roughly in line with an average of polls over time compiled by poll tracking website FiveThirtyEight.
Sunday’s rally comes on the heels of a three-day fundraising push by Trump that included stops in San Francisco and Beverly Hills, where he raised millions of dollars from technology executives and other donors.