On Labor Day, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent sat in a booth at Metro 29 Diner in Arlington, Virginia, speaking plainly about a policy that could reshape life for millions of working Americans. President Trump’s “no tax on tips” promise—now law—isn’t just campaign rhetoric delivered. It’s a concrete shift aimed at rewarding work, lowering burdens on families, and leveling the playing field for Main Street after years of policies that tilted in favor of elites.
“It’s part of the president’s agenda and it’s what I call parallel prosperity. Wall Street has done great. Upper income taxpayers and business have done great. Now, Main Street and working Americans are going to do great,” Bessent said. “It’s part of what you said, which is when the One Big Beautiful Bill became One Big Beautiful Law, the no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security, and interest deductibility of auto loans for new cars that are made in the U.S.”
The Treasury Department is set to release guidance showing which professions and industries qualify for the tax exemption—up to $25,000 a year in untaxed tips. This measure directly targets workers who often live paycheck-to-paycheck. By easing the tax burden, the administration is putting money back into the pockets of waiters, bartenders, valets, and countless others who have long borne the brunt of rising costs.
Bessent made clear this isn’t about loopholes or giveaways—it’s about fairness. “It’s very wide-ranging and the good news is we have a lot of data. People aren’t going to be able to game the system… It’s the president delivering for working Americans and we’ve had this affordability crisis. There are two ways to solve that. One, we are bending the curve on inflation and getting that under control and then we are going to be laser focused on affordability this fall with solutions, especially on housing. But two is to grow wages for working Americans and this is a big step.”
For Bessent, the issue is deeply personal. He recalls working at Hardwick’s Cafeteria in South Carolina as a 9-year-old busboy, earning tips as he cleared tables. Later, he hauled beach chairs and umbrellas for cash. “We found a photo of it,” he said. “I was a busboy. I would help, also help carry people’s trays from the cash register stand to the table and I would get tips. I’ve been getting tip income since I was 9 years old. I also had a second job on the beach setting up beach chairs and umbrellas—that was also a tipped job too. So no tax on tips means a lot to me.”
This policy, he argues, is about dignity and respect for work—a sharp contrast with the Biden years. “A lot of them really got [screwed] under the Biden administration. It was a wipeout for the bottom 50 percent of wage earners,” Bessent said. Now, the administration is focused on reversing that squeeze by delivering “catch-up” growth for ordinary households.
Energy policy, too, ties directly to affordability. Gas prices have dropped, and Bessent credits Trump’s push for energy dominance—unleashing domestic resources and reversing the Biden administration’s restrictions. “It’s a combination of energy price and national security—we’re already seeing that at the pump, with gas prices. I get a lot of my anecdotal information from my cousins and one of my cousins was in Daytona, and he said gas was like $1.92 or something. The other thing I want to say is with the energy costs and food costs, a huge amount of food retail is from the trucking component. So, if the transport costs are down, then the retail prices can go lower too.”
He also defended tariffs, framing them as a necessary safeguard against both fentanyl inflows and runaway trade deficits. Courts may resist, but Bessent insists the emergency is clear. “If that’s not an emergency—100,000 to 200,000 Americans have died, and using tariffs as leverage to stop China, Mexico, and Canada from not helping stem the transport of fentanyl into America—then what is an emergency?” he asked. On trade, he compared Trump’s intervention to preventing the 2008 financial collapse before it spiraled out of control.
Monetary policy is another piece of the puzzle. Bessent hinted the Federal Reserve may begin cutting rates in September, easing pressure on families with credit card debt and car loans. “The biggest mistake in the past was the terrible inflation of 2022,” he said, criticizing the Fed’s “Team Transitory” approach that failed to acknowledge reality.
Still, Bessent stresses this administration’s difference lies in listening. He’s been on the road constantly, just as other cabinet officials have, talking to ordinary Americans about affordability struggles. “What we are not going to do is what the Biden people did and talk down to the American people and say this is just a vibe session and that you don’t understand how good you have it and it’s great. We understand that we were left with a mess and everyday working Americans are hurting and we’re going to be out there talking about how we’re going to fix it and then fixing it.”
Looking ahead, he sees a “refund boom” coming in 2026 when tax relief from the One Big Beautiful Bill shows up in refund checks, providing families with real breathing room. Wages, meanwhile, are already rising. “For Americans—and for American citizens. The jobs are going to American citizens, which is very different than under the Biden administration,” Bessent said. That emphasis underscores a broader theme: prosperity should flow to those who play by the rules, not to illegal immigrants or special interests.
As the breakfast interview wrapped up, the secretary added with a grin, “I hope I don’t get in trouble with Bobby Kennedy.”
From no taxes on tips to lower gas prices and stronger wages, the Trump administration is betting on a simple idea: reward work, restore balance, and let Main Street thrive again.
