Culinary Union backs Nevada Rep. Steven Horsford’s plan to end subminimum wage, taxes on tips

It’s still unclear whether President Donald Trump’s pledge to end taxes on tips will make it into the final budget put forward by Republicans in the House of Representatives, especially when they’re trying to push through $4.5 trillion in tax cuts.

Either way, U.S. Rep. Steven Horsford, D-North Las Vegas, is pushing for his version of a plan Trump has heralded since June.

Horsford is quick to note his legislation would end the subminimum wage — something Nevada has already axed — nationwide and close key loopholes.

Without those provisions, the proposal “does not help workers, and I am going to fight like hell to defend my constituents, to make sure they get the benefits that they deserve.”

Horsford joined members of the Culinary Union on Thursday morning to promote the no-taxes-on-tips legislation, which the union pushed for during the presidential campaign. Culinary Union Secretary-Treasurer Ted Pappageorge said Horsford’s bill “will uplift millions of workers.”

The two men were at a table with a handful of union members at the Culinary Academy of Las Vegas, which Horsford led for over a decade before being elected to Congress.

While largely supportive of the legislation, union members had concerns about how removing taxes on tips would affect their Social Security benefits.

Horsford said the bill removes income tax on tips, not payroll taxes, so tipped workers would still be able to access their “full Social Security.”

Horsford, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, said his bill would also defined who tipped workers are and has a $112,500 income cap.

Yolandda Garcia, a fountain worker at Resorts World and the mother of two daughters, said she would use any extra money she would gain from passage of the legislation for food. Grocery prices have risen by 23% in urban areas since before the start of the pandemic.

“Everything has gone up,” Garcia said. “Like Steve Horsford said, tips are a gift. It’s not guaranteed.”

Horsford acknowledged the tough position he and fellow Democratic lawmakers are in to get policies through, as Republicans control both chambers of Congress and the White House.

But the GOP has the smallest House majority margin in nearly a century, he said.

“There’s nothing that’s going to get through Trump’s agenda (without) Democratic votes in the House,” Horsford said, noting the razor-thin majority Republicans have in the House but divisions within the GOP caucus, getting parts of Trump’s agenda through Congress could require making concessions to attract votes from Democratic members.

“I’m telling you right now, they don’t have my vote if they don’t take care of the workers,” Horsford said.

Pappageorge says he has been unimpressed by the second Trump administration thus far. A lot of promises were made, “and I think they’re going off the rails,” he said.

“What we need to do is stay focused on the cost of living for average American workers,” Pappageorge said. “Homeowner’s insurance has doubled, and car insurance has tripled. We’re seeing nothing from the new administration on that, and it’s going to be up to us to hold their feet to the fire.”

Pappageorge is also dealing with a new National Labor Relations Board, which was friendly to union organizing during President Joe Biden’s term. Last month, Trump fired a member of the board, effectively freezing its ability to work.

“It’s no surprise that a government that is led in part by tech tycoons and Elon Musk is trying to bash workers and go after protections that the previous administration championed,” Pappageorge said. “There’s a real overreach going on right now, and it’s dangerous for workers.”

Medicaid could also face cuts. Over 300,000 people on Medicaid in Nevada may not have it in the future under the current Republican proposal.

“That’s pregnant women. That’s newborns. That’s working poor,” Horsford said. “We need three Republicans (in the House) to break from the chaos and cruelty of Donald Trump ... to join with us in a bipartisan coalition to come up with a new path forward. This is not sustainable.”