Democrats mocked for ‘out-of-touch’ comments dismissing no tax on tips: ‘Peak elitism’

Nevada Democratic representatives Dina Titus, Susie Lee and Steven Horsford are being mocked as “out of touch” for keeping silent after a national
Democratic Party
spokesperson dismissed no tax on tips as mere “crumbs.”
In a
Politico article
about the importance of the no-tax-on-tips policy in congressional races in Nevada, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesperson Lindsay Reilly appeared to dismiss the policy, saying, “D.C. Republicans are giving temporary crumbs to working families.”
Reilly added, “Meanwhile, millions of families are at risk of losing their health care, hundreds of hospitals could close and countless Americans could lose their jobs — all to pay for permanent tax cuts for billionaires.”
The no-tax-on-tips provision in the
“big, beautiful bill”
establishes an income tax deduction of up to $25,000 on qualified tipped income through 2028.
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With Nevada being the state with the highest share of tipped workers in the country, these comments ignited a firestorm of criticism from Republican voices online.
“Marvel at just how out of touch Democrats are with reality. The DCCC thinks no taxes on tips is ‘crumbs,’” conservative commentator Steve Guest wrote.
“What makes this so bad, is that this is ACTUALLY what the Democrat party thinks,” wrote White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson.
National Republican Senatorial Committee advisor Nathan Brand added, ”
Nancy Pelosi
peddled this same elitist ‘crumbs’ message in 2017 after Trump and Republicans cut taxes for nearly all working families.”
The Republican Congressional Leadership Fund challenged Titus, Lee and Horsford, saying, “Will you denounce the @dccc’s statement that cutting taxes on tips amounts to ‘crumbs?’ Many of your constituents rely on tips to support their families.”
National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee spokesman Christian Martinez wrote, “The @dccc sneering that No Tax on Tips is ‘crumbs’ is peak Democrat elitism.”
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Though all three Democrats have advocated for the no-tax-on-tips policy, they voted against the “big, beautiful bill,” which included the policy.
Martinez said the Nevada Democrats’ “voting record says it all” and that “Out of touch Democrats Dina Titus, Susie Lee, and Steven Horsford are too scared of their radical, latte-sipping bosses in D.C. to stand with the workers who keep Nevada running.”
“Only a party run by latte-liberals who refuse to go into the office thinks hard-earned tip money is pocket lint,” he said.
The NRCC also asked, “Will Titus, Lee, and Horsford stand with workers?”
“National Democrats just mocked Nevada’s servers, bartenders, cooks, housekeepers, dealers, and hospitality workers, sneering that their right to keep their own hard-earned tip money amounts to nothing more than ‘crumbs,’” the NRCC said in a statement.
“This is the shameless party of Dina Titus, Susie Lee, and Steven Horsford. They can’t hide from their vote AGAINST No Tax on Tips for hardworking Nevadans. If Titus, Lee, and Horsford actually stood with workers, they’d condemn these comments and stand up for workers keeping more of their hard-earned money.”
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After its passage, Lee wrote in the
Las Vegas Sun
that she “rushed back to Washington to vote against the One Big Beautiful Bill,” calling it “one of the least popular pieces of legislation in modern American history, giving massive, permanent tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans and temporary crumbs for working families in Southern Nevada.”
In August, the three sent a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary
Scott Bessent
“to ensure the successful implementation” of the no-tax-on-tips policy. In a statement, Lee’s office said the letter highlighted that “the version of ‘No Tax on Tips’ passed by Republicans in Washington does not fully meet the needs of Nevadans.”
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Lee said, “I believe that no one should lose out on tips they earned. That’s why I support the TIPS Act to PERMANENTLY end taxes on tips.”
She said that, earlier this year, she “called on Speaker
[Mike] Johnson
to bring the permanent fix ‘No Tax on Tips Act’ — which unanimously passed the Senate — to the House floor for a vote.
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“Instead, Republican leaders held it hostage so they could provide cover for themselves as they voted to pass the largest transfer of wealth in American history,” she said. “The Republican ‘no tax on tips’ provision is a raw deal for tipped earners — it’s temporary, capped, and so much smaller than the tax breaks the wealthiest Americans got out of the Big Bulls— Bill.
“Let me be clear — our service workers can’t benefit from no tax on tips if they aren’t receiving tips thanks to our tourism slump or if they’ve lost their jobs.”
DCCC spokeswoman Lindsay Reilly also responded to the backlash, telling Fox News Digital, “It’s sad that the out-of-touch operatives at the NRCC are having a meltdown when confronted with the facts.
“Everyone knows the Big, Ugly Bill is a massive tax giveaway for the wealthiest few that sticks working families with the bill. That is
fact
, and it’s why everyone hates it,” she said. “Voters can see through Republicans’ cheap spin, and people know their bill fails to deliver meaningful relief to everyday Americans, while the billionaires cash out.”
In response to the knock on her 2017 “crumbs” comment, Pelosi’s office shared a statement from 2018, which accused President
Donald Trump’s
first-term tax breaks of being a scam and “a monumental theft from the middle class to enrich the wealthiest 1 percent.”
Fox News Digital also reached out to Titus and Horsford but did not immediately receive a response.