Millionaire Legislator Leaves $3 Tip in Celebration of Trump’s “No Tax on Tips”

Earlier this week, Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (Iowa) attempted to promote the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s “no tax on tips” provision by posting a photo of herself holding up her check at a restaurant — only to go viral for her meager tip.

“Made a pit stop in Iowa County for lunch at Sun Down Bar and Grill,” the lawmaker wrote on social media on Monday. “I got to celebrate No Tax on Tips with our wonderful server, she’s thrilled about this provision and excited to keep more of what she earns!”

The meal was $18.19, but only $21.50 was on the table — less than the standard 20 percent.

Miller-Meeks, who has a net worth of approximately $1.78 million, was slammed in her replies.

“Worth 1.78 M. Can’t even tip 20% lol,” one user wrote on X.

“You’d think the server would at least get $5 since you’re using her as a political prop on a cash tip she wouldn’t have reported,” said another.

“Congressional cosplay level: celebrate ‘No Tax on Tips’ while leaving $3.31 on an $18 tab,” another user chimed in. “Servers deserve living wages, not campaign photo shoots.”

Miller-Meeks’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump’s so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (OBBA) includes a “no tax on tips” provision that eliminates federal income taxes on the first $25,000 on tipped wages for unmarried workers making less than $150,000 a year, and for married workers making less than $300,000 a year. However, many tipped workers don’t make enough to even file for income taxes. In 2022, more than a third had incomes too low to file.

“Let’s be clear: the very same politicians pushing this gimmick are the ones refusing to raise wages and end the two-tiered subminimum wage system that keeps millions of workers in poverty,” Saru Jayaraman, president of One Fair Wage, said in a statement to Truthout.

Jayaraman’s group has been leading a movement to eliminate the two-tiered minimum wage system and replace it with a true living wage for all workers. The tipped minimum wage is typically significantly lower than the non-tipped minimum wage — and both are far below a living wage. In Iowa, the minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, and the living wage and housing wage are about $20 an hour. (The housing wage is the wage that a worker has to earn so they spend no more than 30 percent of their income on housing.) To rent a two-bedroom in Iowa, a person making minimum wage would have to work more than 100 hours a week.

The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” slashed government assistance programs that many tipped workers rely on to survive. Corey Husak, director of tax policy for the Center on American Progress, wrote in his analysis of the “no tax on tips” provision that it “will benefit only a small number of workers, and many of those workers will disproportionately suffer financial losses due to the OBBBA’s severe program cuts.”

Husak found that “cuts to health care and food assistance matter more to tipped workers than the ‘no tax on tips’ provision.” His analysis of data from the 2023 American Community Survey revealed that 30 percent of tipped workers were on Medicaid and 15 percent lived in a household receiving SNAP, a food assistance program for low-income community members. Husak says that OBBA threatens to strip more than 280,000 tipped workers of Medicaid coverage and over 160,000 of SNAP benefits.

Jayaraman called the “no tax on tips” provision “political snake oil.”

“Tipped workers don’t need cheap stunts and photo ops with politicians who can’t even leave a decent tip,” Jayaraman said. “They need One Fair Wage — a full, livable minimum wage with tips on top — so they’re not forced to depend on government assistance or the whim of stingy customers just to feed their families.”