California is among the blue states that won\u2019t be adopting President Donald Trump\u2019s \u201cno tax on tips\u201d policy \u2014\u00a0and hardworking waitstaff and bartenders in the Golden State aren\u2019t having it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would put a lot more money in my pocket if they didn\u2019t tax [tips],\u201d said Alex Frost, a longtime bartender at Baja Cantina in Marina del Rey. \u201cI don\u2019t really quite understand it. I mean, California already taxes you more than any other state. I don\u2019t see what they need my money.\u201d<\/p>\n
Frost said he didn\u2019t vote for Trump, but still supports the \u201cno tax on tips\u201d provision of the One Big Beautiful Bill that allows federal tax deductions for tips and overtime. Tax breaks could help him stay afloat in notoriously expensive California, he said.<\/p>\n
A bartender pours cocktails at \u00c9lephante Restaurant in Santa Monica. David Buchan for NY Post<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, it\u2019s the whole reason pretty much anybody in the industry does the job is for tips \u2026\u00a0being able to deduct even a portion of that would would help significantly,\u201d Frost said. <\/p>\n
California is one of several states<\/a>, including Illinois and New York<\/a>, that won\u2019t conform to the federal tax policy \u2014 meaning tips will still be taxed under state law.<\/p>\n The federal tax breaks on tips, one popular provision in Trump\u2019s One Big Beautiful Bill, allows waiters, hairdressers, delivery drivers and other eligible workers to claim up to $25,000 in federal income tax deductions through 2028. A number of states have fully or partially aligned their own tax policies to match. <\/p>\n But tax deductions on tips could cost California $3.2 billion as it faces massive budget deficits, according to Reuters, and leftie lawmakers have shown no appetite for cutting service workers a break.<\/p>\n \u2018No tax on tips\u2019 was one of the popular provisions of Trump\u2019s Big Beautiful Bill. AP<\/p>\n Waitstaff say tips make up a huge chunk of their income, and tax relief would be a major help. David Buchan for NY Post<\/p>\n \u201cFor a state that prides itself on championing working people, it\u2019s disappointing that California chose not to adopt tax relief on gratuities,\u201d said Joel Dixon, president of Santa Monica-based Rustic Canyon Family. \u201cThis was a simple, targeted way to help tipped employees and small businesses, and it feels like the voices of the people doing the day-to-day work were ignored.\u201d<\/p>\n Gov. Gavin Newsom\u2019s office said that changing how tips are taxed would require changes to state law. <\/p>\n \u201cThe vast majority of Californians pay lower overall taxes than they do in high-tax states for workers like Texas and Florida, while also benefiting from our higher minimum wage, which is more than double Trump\u2019s mediocre $7.25 an hour,\u201d said Newsom spokesperson Brandon Richards in a statement. <\/p>\n Some service workers interviewed by The Post said they appreciated California\u2019s high minimum wage, but felt it would be only fair to adopt the federal tip rules.<\/p>\n Bar worker Chris Elsenbroek said the tax rules are a mixed bag. David Buchan for NY Post<\/p>\n Everett Brenza, a barback at \u00c9lephante in Santa Monica who relocated from Boston in August, said the cost-of-living jump was a shock: \u201cGas alone is almost double.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cIt would definitely be nicer if a portion of our tips wasn\u2019t taxed,\u201d Brenza said. \u201cI can\u2019t lie. But again, I\u2019m grateful that in California I can at least make the state minimum.\u201d<\/p>\n Chris Elsenbroek called the tax policies a \u201cmixed bag.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cMy bigger concern is that this becomes a distraction from the real conversation about who should be taxed,\u201d Elsenbroek said. \u201cWe\u2019re talking about minimum-wage workers, even in Los Angeles, while billionaires and wealthy individuals continue to avoid paying their fair share.\u201d<\/p>\n Wayne Blasingame, who operates nine restaurants in Los Angeles, said he wasn\u2019t a fan of the \u201cno tax on tips\u201d idea, arguing it paints the industry in a selfish light. But now that it\u2019s passed into federal law, he feels it should be enacted at the state level too. <\/p>\n \u201cIndustry employees will benefit greatly from it and I\u2019ll be happy for them,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"California is among the blue states that won\u2019t be adopting President Donald Trump\u2019s \u201cno tax on tips\u201d policy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":114340,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,412,1694,3161,3586],"class_list":["post-114339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-restaurants","tag-taxes","tag-tips","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114339\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}