Okay, this is part three of the ten-part series for the Trump vs.
Harris tax battle. Okay, this one is going to be very basic.
I actually covered it last week, but I just wanted to give the the
Harris side of it as well. But where I talked about the Trump,
the, the three tax exemptions that Trump was proposing,
so this episode is specifically about the tax exemption proposals that Trump has stated
and that Harris has come out with. And I've talked about the Trump one
already, but here they are again. So it's tax-free tips,
tax-free overtime, and tax-free Social Security income.
So whether or not the Trumps he could actually get it passed.
Um,
like we just, we just don't know the details of it, but that'd be
pretty amazing for a lot of people. So tax-free.
So real quick on the tips. So right now,
the way that tips are reported, like if it's at a restaurant,
tips actually are reported. It's like if,
if a waitress is getting a regular paycheck and a regular W-2,
like, like for filing their tax at the end of the year,
there's a specific box that shows how much they received in tips.
So they are paying tax on the tips. They're not paying tax on like
if it's cash under the table or if it's unreported tips,
they're not paying tax on that anyways. But it's just on those reported tips.
And so larger restaurants, of course,
if they're, and especially if they're pooling tips, what we see,
they're, they typically are taxed. But if they're not taxed anyway,
it's not going to make a huge difference. So there's the tips.
The overtime, this is like for seasonal businesses.
So I'm a, like as a CPA firm owner,
we are very seasonal. Like there's, there's a couple of times a year where
like we're all working just some crazy overtime hours.
My employees would love it.
If, if their overtime was tax free, I would love it if I could
get paid, like if my overtime, if we could allocate it to be tax
free as well. But I talked about this in that last step.
So there's some fun like strategies.
And this is, this is how I view the tax code. It's like,
you look at the tax code and the there's ways you can navigate it
to make it work for you in the most efficient way.
But how could we have more of our income taxes tips?
How could we have more of our income taxes, overtime pay?
And sometimes it might just be updating the way that it's reported or correcting
the way that it's reported. It might be more reporting like,
you know, like bookkeeping and accounting on one side, but the tax benefit benefit
of it could be well worth it. And then that third one,
the tax free social security,
which I know there's millions and millions of people that would be ecstatic about
that if that's their only source of income.
Or if you have more multiple sources of income,
when you're, when you're receiving social security, your social security is taxed.
And that's like a slap in the face for, for people that are receiving
social security. And when we're explaining it to them, like why they need to
pay tax on it, because usually there's no withholding at all on it.
Like, yeah, well, you had your spouse had this income or you had this
income, this other income, and that's why your social security is taxed.
Now you should see the look on their faces. People are not happy because
to them, and it is, it's just like a tax that they paid years
and years before, and they're just getting some of it back. So it's frustrating
for a lot of people. So these are the tip,
this is the income tax. It's a exemption, um,
the part three of this 10-part series, and that was the Trump side.
On the Harris side, there's been no proposals for tax exemptions.
She might have floated, I remember seeing some memes or whatnot about her floating
like The same was, I think it was the tips,
like she was talking about tax-free tips as well.
I don't think they officially continued to go after that since Trump had brought
it up first. They, they didn't want to copycat it,
but I haven't seen any income tax exemptions on the Harris side.
So, yeah. So, Trump definitely wins this one. Uhm, on the Harris side,
the focus has been more on, like, credits for renters,
uhm, credits, we talked about the child tax credits,
the earned income credits, but not on,
like, the exemption of actual tax, of income.
And, so, that's it for now, this one will be short,
and we will get to part four here pretty soon.
