A core component of the Trump campaign’s pitch to working Americans is a package of costly tax cuts that sound targeted toward their interests, such as exempting income from tips and overtime pay from taxation. But amongst the many problems with these budget-busting proposals, they wouldn’t meaningfully increase the take-home pay of the many working-class individuals, who have little to no income tax liabilities at all.
A better way for Democrats to boost the incomes of working Americans is to ensure they are actually paid what they are owed in the first place. Tackling wage theft, a crime that takes thousands of dollars out of working Americans’ pockets each year, will do far more to improve the lives of the millions of tipped and overtime workers who are at risk of being cheated than misguided tax proposals.
