Former President Donald Trump left a $500 tip at a restaurant in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and wrote, “Vote Trump, No Tax on Tip” on the check.
In a video shared to X by Margo Martin, Trump’s deputy director of communications, Trump can be seen writing on a check at Tony and Nick’s Steaks, and saying, “No tax on tips” as people in the background can be heard cheering.
“No tax on tips!” Trump says.
VOTE TRUMP—NO TAX ON TIPS!!! pic.twitter.com/IeddHfp9Vm
— Margo Martin (@margommartin) June 22, 2024
A photo posted to X by Martin shows a group of employees holding up the check signed by Trump, with the words, “Vote Trump. No tax on tip.”
Everyone deserves no taxes on tips!!! pic.twitter.com/EY9MRqEjg9
— Margo Martin (@margommartin) June 22, 2024
Nicky Lucidonio, who owns the cheesesteak restaurant, Tony and Nick’s Steaks, told Fox Business that it was an “unbelievable” moment and that the former president answered questions and signed “hats” and “everything.”
“It was just unbelievable,” Lucidonio told the outlet. “He was talking to people, you know, they’re asking questions. He’s answering them. He’s signing hats. He signed and everything.”
Lucidonio explained to the outlet that a woman had come into his restaurant on Friday telling him she had a “big order” of roughly 200 sandwiches.
“Wow, 200 cheesesteaks. I said, ‘Great, who’s it for?’ She wanted to help me. She said it’s for some special people,” Lucidonio told the outlet.
During a rally in Las Vegas, Nevada, earlier this month, Trump promised that if elected president, his administration would eliminate taxes on tips for people who work in service industry-related jobs.
“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,” Trump said at the time. “Because when I get to office, we are going to not charge taxes on tips – people making tips.”
During a roundtable event at an African-American church in Michigan last weekend Trump again stated that his administration was “not going to tax tips.”
The promise from the former president to not tax tips has started a trend of people writing, “A vote 4 Trump is a vote 4 no tax on tips,” or similarly worded sayings on their receipts from restaurants and other places where people earn tips.
Tips are described as being “discretionary (optional or extra) payments determined by a customer that employees receive from customers,” according to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
Employees are able to earn tips in the form of cash, “through electronic settlement or payment,” like a credit, debit, or gift card, or “through tip pools, tip splitting,” or other tip sharing arrangements, the IRS’s website states.
The IRS notes that “all cash and non-cash tips” that an employee receives “are income and are subject to Federal income taxes.”
“All cash tips received by an employee in any calendar month are subject to social security and Medicare taxes and must be reported to the employer,” the IRS adds. “If the total tips received by the employee during a single calendar month by a single employer are less than $20, then these tips are not required to be reported and taxes are not required to be withheld.”
Breitbart News reached out to Tony and Nick’s Steaks for a comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication.