McDonald’s CEO says Trump’s no tax on tips creates ‘uneven playing field’ for its restaurants, which don’t get ‘customers to pay’ for labor

Donald Trump stands in a McDonald's drive-thru window, extending two paper bags in front of him. (Credit: Jabin Botsford—The Washington Post/Getty Images)

• President Donald Trump has outlined which workers will be eligible for tax deductions as a result of his no tax on tips policy. This policy will not benefit McDonald’s workers, according to CEO Chris Kempczinski, because its restaurants do not have tips. Instead, the policy will give businesses that dole out smaller wages for tipped workers an outsize advantage.

McDonald’s employees will not only get no benefits from President Donald Trump’s no tax on tips efforts, but the policy also exposes inequities between businesses that decide to pay workers the federal minimum wage versus those who pay employees a smaller wage supplemented by tips, according to CEO Chris Kempczinski.