Harris says he supports eliminating tip taxes, like Trump By Reuters

By Jeff Mason

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) – U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris told supporters in Nevada on Saturday that she supports eliminating tip taxes, taking a similar stance to her rival Donald Trump in an effort to win over service workers, a key constituency in the state.

Harris and her Democratic running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, wrapped up a multi-day tour of battleground states Saturday with a stop in Nevada, a western state that could play a key role in the Nov. 5 presidential election.

“It’s my promise to everyone here when I’m president that we will continue to fight for working families, including raising the minimum wage and eliminating tip taxes for service and hospitality workers,” Harris said.

Harris said he would work to lower consumer prices, vowing to “take on big corporations that engage in illegal price gouging” – corporate landlords who unfairly raise rents for working families – and big pharmaceutical companies to lower prices medicines.

Trump said at a rally in Las Vegas in June that he would try to end the tax on tipping income.

Harris, who officially became the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee this week, campaigned with Walz in Wisconsin, Michigan and Arizona, all states that traditionally swing between Republicans and Democrats in presidential elections.

To become president, a candidate does not have to win the national popular vote, but must win 270 electoral votes. Each state has a number of electoral votes based on its population, which makes swing states especially important.

She will travel to San Francisco in her home state of California on Sunday to attend a fundraiser with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Nearly 700 people are expected at the event, which will raise more than $12 million, a campaign official said.

Harris and Walz, whose selection was announced in Pennsylvania – another swing state – on Tuesday, are trying to maintain and build on the momentum they have generated since President Joe Biden stepped down as the party’s standard bearer last month.

Harris led Trump, the former Republican president, by four percentage points each in separate polls conducted in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, another swing state, by the New York Times and Siena College, a significant difference from polls conducted before Biden presidential resignations. race.

The Trump campaign released a memo from its chief pollster, Tony Fabrizio, rejecting the results. “Once again, we’re seeing a series of public polls released with the clear intent and purpose of depressing support for President Trump,” Fabrizio said.

Nationally, Harris led Trump by five percentage points, 42 percent to 37 percent, in an Ipsos poll released Thursday, a larger lead since a July 22-23 Reuters/Ipsos poll that found increased by 37% to 34%.

Harris has raised hundreds of millions of dollars and held rallies with thousands of supporters since becoming the Democratic nominee, regularly eclipsing the smaller events that Biden has organized and drawing the ire of Trump, for whom the size of the crowd was always an important barometer of political strength.

The Harris campaign said more than 12,000 people were inside the Las Vegas arena Saturday, and police turned away about 4,000 more because people in line were getting sick as temperatures reached 109 degrees in Nevada. Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius). ) on Saturday.

Harris spent the week drawing contrasts with Trump. On Saturday, before leaving Arizona, she said she strongly disagreed with the former president on the Federal Reserve.

She said she would not interfere with the independent Fed if elected president, in stark contrast to Trump, who said Thursday that presidents should have a say in central bank decisions.