On Tuesday’s broadcast of NewsNation’s “The Hill,” Rep. Greg Murphy (R-NC) said that there need to be guardrails on ending taxes on tips to define what a tip is and who is eligible and “There also should be some income limits with some of these things” like ending taxes on tips, Social Security, and overtime.
Murphy said, “[M]y number one concern is our debt, our deficit, our number one — my number one concern. I know the president has initiatives. We’re going to try to meet all those different initiatives. But if they’re not able — if we’re not able to do it, we’re not able to do it. That said, we’ve had great discussions. … We have to be able to afford everything. I think there’s good — we’ve made a lot of good progress on so many initiatives that the president does want. But, at the end of the day, we have to be able to afford this, and, plus, we also have to be able to make sure that it is not adding to our debt. Remember, Blake, just one thing here, is, if we don’t renew these tax cuts, 10 million jobs are lost. We get…a $4.5 trillion tax increase. We have to deal with what was done before.”
Host Blake Burman then asked, “So, the Tax Foundation estimates, if you just extend it, no tax on Social Security, overtime, and tips, it’s basically 6.9 trillion. Are you saying that if that — if it just gets to be too high, then maybe you don’t get to all three, Social Security, overtime, and tips?”
Murphy responded, “Well, we can’t do Social Security in reconciliation. We can do trying to get tax relief for seniors. That’s in total, that’s if everything is done. If we pare back some of these things, while still letting the president get his wins, yeah, I think that’s a win-win for everybody.”
Burman then asked, “Do you think the president would accept that? Because he was pretty clear out on the campaign trail, I’m going to do all these sorts of things.”
Murphy answered, “Yeah, but, when you say no tax on tips, we have to qualify this, what is a tip, who is eligible to get one? Is your electrician going to come in and say, the bill is $200, but it’s actually 180 in tip and $20? We have to put real guardrails in there. There also should be some income limits with some of these things. So, it’s not everything for everybody all the time. We have to do smart policy within these guidelines.”
Murphy added that he thinks the tax bill will ultimately pass.
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
Read the full article here
