Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson (LA-04) didn’t mince words over the latest move by blue-state Democrats to sabotage a major promise President Donald Trump made to working Americans—cutting taxes on tips and overtime.
In a post on X Monday, Johnson blasted Democrat-run states like California, New York, and Illinois after a New York Post report revealed they’re refusing to provide corresponding state-level tax relief, even after Congress passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), also known as the “Working Families Tax Cut Act.” That legislation exempts tipped wages and overtime pay from federal taxation starting January 1.
Once again, Democrats are showing exactly where their priorities lie: not with waiters, bartenders, nurses, or factory workers putting in extra hours, but with preserving their own bloated tax regimes at the expense of working-class Americans they claim to care so much about.
What hypocrites. What liars:
Most working Americans can anticipate the largest tax refunds in HISTORY this year — but, incredibly, Democrat-controlled states are REFUSING to allow President Trump’s popular No Tax on Tips or Overtime!
IT’S OUTRAGEOUS.
Once again — as they pay lip service to an… https://t.co/pFfO7Gj0Fx
— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) December 29, 2025
“Most working Americans can anticipate the largest tax refunds in history this year — but, incredibly, Democrat-controlled states are refusing to allow President Trump’s popular No Tax on Tips or Overtime!” Johnson wrote on the X platform.
“IT’S OUTRAGEOUS,” he added in all caps. “Once again — as they pay lip service to an ‘affordability’ issue they caused — when Republicans give them the opportunity to actually make life more affordable, Democrats turn their backs on the working class.”
Here are the blue states ‘blocking’ Trump’s popular tax cut provisions https://t.co/AGkR4N5eQQ pic.twitter.com/6vpMTzTieU
— New York Post (@nypost) December 26, 2025
Reuters notes that each state has three basic options:
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Full conformity: Accept the federal changes, letting tips and overtime be untaxed at the state level.
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Selective (partial) conformity: Adopt some parts of OBBBA but not others (e.g., allow the tip deduction but not overtime).
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Non-conformity/decoupling: Reject the new federal deductions entirely, keeping tips and overtime fully taxable for state purposes.
A few states currently conform to the federal tax code, including Iowa, South Carolina, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, and Oregon, as reported by Reuters.
The states that have agreed or are receptive to at least part of the proposal consist of Arizona, North Carolina, and New Jersey.
Numerous other states, regardless of their political affiliation, have not yet addressed what constitutes taxable income within their jurisdictions.
Adam Michel, director of tax policy studies at the libertarian Cato Institute, explained that “Some states start with federal taxable income, so most of the new deductions flow through automatically unless lawmakers opt out.”
“Many more states—blue and red—start with adjusted gross income or run their own tax system, which means they don’t pick up these new deductions unless they affirmatively pass a bill to do so,” he added.
Democrat Governor Kathy Hochul of New York is getting ripped by workers for failing to deliver on Trump’s tax pledge to New Yorkers. Rion Gallagher, 30, a bartender at The Blasket, an Irish pub in Midtown, told the New York Post simply, “Screw her.”
“If we weren’t taxed on our tips, we’d be able to save more, we’d enjoy life a little more, maybe we wouldn’t have to pick up that extra shift,” she added.
Zoe Kalodimos, 30, a waitress at Embassy Diner in Bethpage, Long Island, told the outlet, “For [Hochul] to do that is just, it’s disheartening. It’s upsetting.”
“It’s like losing money,” she added of losing about $1,000 a month on taxes from tips. “So it’s hard, especially when everything’s so expensive in life right now. That’s my livelihood, that’s how I eat and feed my family.”
Hochul seems to acknowledge that this might be an issue, and a representative for her informed the Post that she is receptive to the concept.
“We will continue finding ways to put money back in New Yorkers’ pockets and will evaluate federal changes in the context of the upcoming budget, just like red and blue states across the country,” a spokesperson said.
Except that the Democrats who run New York with a supermajority have only been focused on ways to extract money from residents with some of the highest taxes, fees, and regulatory burdens in the country.
Again – Democrats are hypocrites and liars who don’t give a damn about working-class Americans until its time to be reelected, and even then, obviously, it’s only lip service.
