“When I get to office, we are going to not charge taxes on tips, people making tips,” Donald Trump said at a June 2024 election rally in Las Vegas, home to tens of thousands of tipped workers. “You do a great job, you take care of people, and I think it’s going to be something that really is deserved,” he added. This pledge, which Trump would go on to repeat at multiple campaign events over the next few months, became a signature part of his appeal toward working-class Americans. 

Just over a year after the Las Vegas rally, President Trump appeared to fulfill his campaign promise by securing passage of the No Tax on Tips policy as part of the sweeping legislative package known as the One Big Beautiful Bill. That wasn’t a hard task. The measure was popular in polling surveys and enjoyed the backing of lawmakers from both parties. No Tax on Tips seemed to have all the markings of a commonsense idea whose time had come.

But beneath the facade of this supposedly simple tax waiver for hardworking Americans lies the reality of a service industry powered by ever-rising worker insecurity. Dig even further and you discover the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow embedded in the practice of tipping, obscured by the passage of time, newer migration patterns, and increasingly high-tech forms of exchange.