Column: Trump says Harris stole his idea for exempting tips from tax, but her version beats his

A tax exemption for tips is a crowd-pleaser, but doesn’t stand up to scrutiny, Michael Hiltzik says.

Trump ’s version, and a bill introduced by Sen. Ted Cruz and Rep. Byron Donalds , are half -baked, he says.

Hiltz: A meaningful share of tipped workers already pay zero federal income tax.

Julian Zelizer : The child tax credit was increased to an annual $ 3,000 per child from $ 2,000 .

Zelizer says the credit went to families regardless of whether or how much they paid in federal income taxes.

He says the child credit reduced the child poverty rate by about 30% , keeping as many as 3.7 million children out of poverty by the end of 2021 .

The impact was much worse on Black, Latino and Asian children than on white ones.

Hiltzik: Minimum wage and tip exemption would cost the federal government as much as $200 billion over 10 years .

The Congressional Budget Office projects annual federal budgets will total about $19.6 trillion over the next 10 years , he says.

He says the current system, especially after a massive tax break was enacted by the Republicans and signed by Trump in 2017 , is heavily skewed toward comforting the wealthy.