Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) made it clear that he wants significant changes to be made to the “Big, Beautiful Bill,” specifically concerning the section that aims to slash taxes on tips. This was a major priority for President Donald Trump in the legislation, which is now in the hands of lawmakers.

Speaking with Politico, Tillis said that the current House-approved draft of the tip proposal isn’t fair to those who work in industries where tipping isn’t a thing. He then complained that a restaurant server would be eligible for the break while someone working in a warehouse would not, even if they made similar amounts of money.

The federal minimum for waiters and servers is $2.13 an hour, but employers must ensure that their staff members make $7.25 an hour by combining wages and tips. In other words, without tips, these workers make next to nothing. Tips are essential in providing a living for them and their families.

President Trump believes tax breaks make it easier for those who rely on tips to succeed financially and grow over time into other industries.

Tillis told the left-leaning publication that he wants to take a different approach that he feels would treat people with similar earnings more fairly.

He also floated the very unpopular idea of removing the $40 billion tip proposal from the bill altogether. Tillis then pointed out that this specific measure is supported by both Republicans and Democrats, therefore, it wouldn’t be difficult to pass it, separately, at a later time.

“Maybe there’s a different way to achieve what they’re setting out to do,” he told Politico.

“Tillis’ comments come as Senate Republican leaders say they intend to make changes to the sprawling tax, energy and immigration package approved last month by the House and still get it to Trump’s desk by their July 4 recess. That could be difficult if individual senators, who have lots of leverage given Republicans’ thin majority in the chamber, demand major changes,” the article read.

Making tips tax-free was one of the big promises the president ran on during his campaign last year. The current House draft of the legislation would create a brand new tip deduction for folks working in industries where tipping is customary, as long as their yearly salary doesn’t top $160,000.

Tillis proposed an alternative that would create “some other benefit” that would be made available to a wider group of workers, but would still keep budgetary costs down and limit it to those with lower incomes.

The North Carolina Republican expressed his belief that if the GOP attempted to move on the tip provision separately, the Democrats would have no problem voting in favor of it.

“I’m at a loss for why Democrats would vote against it,” Tillis explained. “They’ve already evidenced that they’re worried about voting ‘no’.”



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