Nevada Democratic Rep. Steven Horsford and Dina Titus at a U.S. House Ways and Means field hearing in Las Vegas Friday. Horsford said Las Vegas is “ground zero” for impacts of the OBBA, and not in a nice way. (Photo: Jeniffer Solis/Nevada Current)
A messaging war over President Donald Trump’s big tax and spending bill made its way to Las Vegas Friday – a metro area both sides of the political aisle described as the poster child for the measure’s impacts on working-class Americans.
House Republicans on the Ways and Means Committee gathered in Las Vegas to aggressively highlight tax cuts provided by the megabill, which has proven deeply unpopular in recent surveys.
During the committee field hearing, Republicans focused on the bill’s more popular, if less consequential, aspects, namely a new tax deduction for seniors and provisions allowing workers to deduct their taxes on tips and overtime pay through 2028.
Democrats, including Ways and Means member and Nevada Rep. Steven Horsford, hammered the legislation’s cuts to Medicaid and food assistance programs, as well as a provision that increases taxes on professional gamblers.
Trump first announced “no tax on tips” as a campaign promise in Las Vegas, making the city a prime location for Republicans to crow about its inclusion in the tax and spending bill as they head into a five-week summer recess.
“This city leads the nation in the share of its workers who earn tips,” said Rep. Jason Smith of Missouri, the Republican chairman of the committee.
“But what will happen here in Vegas will not stay just in Vegas, because America’s 4 million tipped workers will also benefit from no tax on tips,” he continued.
Smith said the legislation’s tax breaks would help working-class Americans and generate economic growth. He also cast Democrats as opponents of cutting taxes after they unanimously opposed the legislation.
The largest tax cuts in the bill are by far the extension of tax cuts passed during Trump’s first term in 2017, which overwhelmingly benefit the higher income earners and corporations.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office last week projected the measure’s tax cuts will add $3.4 trillion over a decade, mostly due to extending the 2017 tax cuts.
While Republicans hoped to use the Las Vegas hearing to kick off a victory lap for their legislation, Nevada Democrats used the hearing – held at an electric sign warehouse – to clobber the bill for hurting Nevada’s economy and Nevada households.
“Las Vegas is actually ground zero for the damage that Trump’s economy is doing to workers and families and small businesses,” Horsford said.
One provision of the bill that has garnered bipartisan criticism limits how much professional and casual gamblers can deduct in losses, a tax increase that could hurt Nevada’s primary industry.
“Senate Republicans unilaterally thrust the gaming economy and its patrons into uncertainty with the unjust inclusion of the wagering loss penalty,” Horsford said.
Nevada Rep. Dina Titus joined Horsford at the hearing to push her Fair Accounting for Income Realized from Betting Earnings Taxation (FAIR BET) Act, a bill that would reverse the provision in the bill signed by Trump and restore the full gambling loss tax deduction.
Nevada’s hospitality industry is already facing challenges this year, as visitation numbers have fallen short of 2024 levels month after month.
“I hope that, since you care so much about Nevada families, y’all will spend some money while you’re here in some of our casinos. We would appreciate that,” Titus told committee members.
Democratic Nevada state Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro, speaking as an invited witness at the hearing, stressed the pain that will be inflicted on Nevadans by the legislation’s deep cuts to Medicaid and food assistance programs to help finance extending the Trump’s 2017 tax cuts.
Cannizzaro questioned the tax benefits of the legislation, emphasizing that deductions for taxes on tips and overtime pay are temporary while tax cuts for high-income households and corporations are permanent.
“This temporary benefit will only help Nevada’s tipped workers if we continue to have tourists to tip them. That’s no guarantee, especially amidst a year-over-year decline in visitation from both domestic and international tourists,” Cannizzaro said.
The six other witnesses who spoke at the closed hearing were invited by Republicans and testified about the benefits of the legislation, including a server, a DoorDash driver, a paint foreman, and a small business owner from Henderson.
Democrats held a press conference at the Culinary Workers Union headquarters ahead of the hearing as counter-programming where union members described the negative impacts of the bill.
Health care advocates noted the legislation will cut Medicaid by nearly $1 trillion over a decade, a move that could place a major burden on Nevada, which relies heavily on the low-income health program.
Nevada became the first state led by a Republican governor to expand Medicaid in 2012, reducing the uninsured rate from 22% to 8%.
Stricter Medicaid eligibility requirements under the Republican megabill could cut health coverage for nearly 100,000 Nevadans, according to analysis from Nevada Medicaid.
Premiums through the Silver State Health Exchange – which covers another 100,000 Nevadans – are likely to increase by roughly 75% next year, Cannizzaro said, leading to more uninsured individuals and increased costs for state and local health systems.
Stricter eligibility requirements under the Supplemental Nutrition Program under the megabill will cost Nevada $20 million per year, while denying thousands of people access to food assistance, she added.