Donald Trump understands the old adage that taxation is theft, which is why he's proposed some interesting ways to ease the burden on real working people through aggressive tax cuts.
The “no tip tax” movement has pretty much been celebrated at this point — even Kamala Harris has endorsed it — and shows that Trump has an instinct for sensible policy. This is just the latest embrace of an idea that, while outside conservative orthodoxy, is consistent with his personal brand.
The former president tried to cut taxes for working people last weekend, and he was successful both times.
“You don't need to pay tax on overtime! People who work overtime are the hardest working people in the country,” Trump said. “It's time for working men and women to finally get a break. And we're doing it because it's a good thing.”
As anyone who has worked an extra shift or three knows, this reprieve can be useful when it actually happens.
But these proposals ignore some of “our nation's hardest working citizens” — Uber drivers, DoorDashers and professional freelancers who toil away with little relief.
They don't have the protections that salaried workers have, they don't get overtime, and many don't get tips. But they still do the work, and they pay the full cost of Medicare and Social Security with money that keeps losing real value. It's a scenario of diminishing returns, and one crisis could push someone into bankruptcy.
Economic justice is a key argument for tax cuts for 1099 users, perhaps temporarily halving their tax burden or creating a “freelancer’s deduction” to help those who operate outside the corporate umbrella. There are several ways to design that.
And like President Trump's other tax proposals, it has political benefits across battleground states.
From the metastatic Atlanta region to the Carolina cities of Raleigh and Charlotte, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Minneapolis and Milwaukee, many of these people are being left behind by the rise of artificial intelligence in the workplace and corporate right-size employment, and are being forced into gig work at the very time that the value of the dollar is falling.
As a result, rent is too high, as are all other costs, and the government that created the conditions for labor to be less than the minimum wage has an obligation to give gig workers and freelancers the same support that all other disadvantaged and economically precarious groups receive in the tax code.
President Trump's overtime tax exemption plan was meant to redress the injustice of working above and beyond for a company that doesn't return the favor. Similarly, the push for a tip tax exemption was meant to recognize that people who rely on tips are compensated in ways that impose real economic costs.
Tax cuts for freelancers would achieve the same result.
They won't have to make the tough decision to delay health insurance or other necessities because they can't afford it, and while they will bear the capital costs of their profession, they will have some peace of mind in an economy that is increasingly dependent on them and whose debt ratios are falling.
Trump's proposal would disproportionately affect an unexpected group of voters in the seven battleground states and beyond: gig workers, who may not hear anything relevant to their economic situations from Kamala Harris but may hear something from Trump.
Liberating freelancers makes political sense: It gives Trump another opportunity to propose meaningful tax reform. And it could create significant numbers of voters who might otherwise sit out the polls in a state where a small number of voters will decide the November election.
