Members of the Kansas Senate and US senator Roger Marshall will pull a page from the Trump Playbook on Monday, unveiling a proposal to exempt tips earned by Kansas service workers from state income tax.
Senate President Ty Masterson announced the pitch Friday night, scheduled for The Celtic Fox restaurant and bar in Topeka Monday at 8:30 a.m. He’ll be flanked by Marshall and 12th District Senator Caryn Tyson, chairman of the Senate Assessment and Taxation Committee.
President Trump broached the idea of exempting tips given to food servers and bartenders, hairdressers and manicurists, musicians, hotel housekeepers, and others during his 2024 presidential campaign as a means of cutting the tax burden on those in service industries who typically don’t earn a lot of money overall. Waitresses, for example, often earn a lower hourly wage with the expectation tips from customers will make up the difference. In addition, tracking and accounting for tips for state and federal taxes can be a challenge for both the worker and the employer.
“Tips are harder to keep track of than your kid wearing a Chief’s hat at the Super Bowl,” Tyson told the Kansas Informer. No tax makes it not only easier to track but helps out those who need it.”
Trump renewed his no tax on tips pledge at a speech in Nevada January 25, saying any worker “who relies on tipped income, your tips will be 100% yours.”
Meanwhile Kansas Corporations and taxpayers continue the stream of income tax payments that projections say will mass a $3.5 billion revenue surplus by the end of June, the ongoing product primarily of the largest tax increase in state history in 2015. Legislators and the governor have spent the past two years debating different plans for tax relief for Kansas residents.
The restaurant point of sale management system Toast found that even with more retail counters putting out tip jars in heretofore unconventional places, Americans still seem to be tipping quite generously.
In Kansas, the company recorded average tips 19.8% across the spectrum using its POS tools in 2023. Full service restaurants hit 20.4%. But if it is at a quick-service place, the tip average drops to 16%.
Americans overall were laying out an average of 18.9% percent in tips at restaurants. The company said tippers in the Midwest typically are the most generous. The highest average was calculated in Delaware, however, at a 21.3 percent total check average.
Dane Hicks is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism and the United States Marine Corps Officer Candidate School at Quantico, VA. He is the author of novels "The Skinning Tree" and "A Whisper For Help." As publisher of the Anderson County Review in Garnett, KS., he is a recipient of the Kansas Press Association's Boyd Community Service Award as well as more than 60 awards for excellence in news, editorial and photography.
