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“No tax on tips” is an industry plant

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Re: “No tax on tips” is an industry plant

#471

Post by assword »

xp84 wrote: post #470
mindcandy wrote: post #407

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> would prefer to pay all their employees $0 and have all diners/customers/etc pay 100% of the wages out of guilt. It is my understanding that this is literally the origin of tipping. After the abolition of slavery, there were many black people newly looking for work. And, there were employers looking for workers, but unwilling to pay money to black people. So, someone got the idea to promote that tipping was somethi…

Perhaps shouting these problematic racist origins from the rooftops is our best shot at getting the support of the Left on board to at least establish that having business models based on obligatory tipping is unethical, if not to ban it.

It would backfire. They’re already losing the culture war. I don’t think the demographic you’re targeting will be very valuable on the scale of real political action.

Re: “No tax on tips” is an industry plant

#472

Post by amosslade »

micromacrofoot wrote: post #419
reissbaker wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it isn't. It doesn't affect the wage they have to pay them. It just affects whether the employees need to pay taxes on tips.

it will absolutely affect the wage they are paid, it will be used as a constant excuse to not pay more than the legal minimum (2.13/hr as long as tips are greater than $7.25/hr)... probably used to justify additional tip stealing that happens pretty much everywhere, people will tip less because of it servers are treated like absolute garbage

Good servers are treated well and make good money.

Re: “No tax on tips” is an industry plant

#473

Post by bigstrat2003 »

amosslade wrote: post #466

My daughter works at a mid-tier restaurant 35 hours a week and makes more than my wife who is a math teacher, department head, and has many years of teaching experience. Eliminating tips and increasing the base wage is a stupid idea. All the talented servers who love the job will leave and mediocre people will replace them.

Having no required tips and a higher base wage works just fine in other countries. I think you're overstating your case.

Re: “No tax on tips” is an industry plant

#474

Post by rtp4me »

Der_Einzige wrote: post #441
afthonos wrote: post #402

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I 100% agree with your value judgement. Nevertheless, the social pressure exists.

The OP above you is guaranteed to have had their food spat in or otherwise tortured as punishment for not tipping. Tipping isn't just a social thing, there are real physical punishments for not doing it!

>The OP above you is guaranteed to have had their food spat in or otherwise tortured as punishment for not tipping.

Wait, what??? Do you honestly believe the worker pours a cup of coffee in a to-go cup, hands it to me, checks the receipt for a tip, then grabs it back to spit in it? What kind of delusional thinking is this? How does the food delivery person even know the tip amount before the receipt? This kind of thinking is exactly why the system is so out of hand.

Re: “No tax on tips” is an industry plant

#475

Post by apelapan »

rtp4me wrote: post #389
afthonos wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US, the tip is an expected part of the expense of eating out (and increasingly having any human in the loop). I hate it, and I really wish it wasn’t the case, but it pretty much is. If you say “I didn’t tip because the service was what I expected”, you’re pretty much considered an asshole. (Incidentally, this is also one of the reasons why the costs of eating out in the US and seem so much lower. Most people w…

>If you say “I didn’t tip because the service was what I expected”, you’re pretty much considered an asshole Sorry, this is definitely not the case. Many times the worker is doing exactly what is needed and nothing more (eg: pour a beer in a glass, handing me a pizza). Why would I be considered an asshole if I didn't tip? That is ridiculous. As other people have said, tipping in the US has really become obnoxious. I…

Why does sitting down cause you to tip?

Why would employees in front of a counter be more deserving than employees behind a counter?

Or perhaps I should put it like: Why would a business need to pay a predictable market rate salary for employees behind the counter, but not for employees in front of the counter (because you step in and provide it instead)?

Re: “No tax on tips” is an industry plant

#476

Post by HamsterDan »

TrackerFF wrote: post #277
bapak wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The crazier part is that it's spreading to more industries and more countries thanks to Americans thinking they should tip everyone everywhere. Thanks.

My take is that it is spreading not due to culture, but due to how all new point of sale systems / card terminals come with a "tip" feature implemented. I'm from Europe, and have traveled here extensively. Tipping is pretty rare, but for the past maybe 5 years, almost all new payment terminals have the tipping option.

If the EU can force every person on earth to dismiss a cookie popup on every website they visit, surely they can pass some regulation to rein in the expansion of tipping.

For example, just make it a requirement that the default tip is 0% in point of sale systems.

Re: “No tax on tips” is an industry plant

#477

Post by [deleted] »

bigstrat2003 wrote: post #473
amosslade wrote: post #466

My daughter works at a mid-tier restaurant 35 hours a week and makes more than my wife who is a math teacher, department head, and has many years of teaching experience. Eliminating tips and increasing the base wage is a stupid idea. All the talented servers who love the job will leave and mediocre people will replace them.

Having no required tips and a higher base wage works just fine in other countries. I think you're overstating your case.

[deleted]

Re: “No tax on tips” is an industry plant

#478

Post by sandmn »

rayiner wrote: post #453

> But, when three members of the group came forward to testify, all expressed support for the Tipped Workers Protection Act and opposition to the One Fair Wage Act, which they portrayed as an effort to steal their tips This article is missing a real issue here by trying to make the story all about the employers. Many workers like the tip system because it creates inequality among the restaurant workers. Good servers…

Is the definition of a good server in this case one who can serve more tables than others in the same amount of time? In most places tips are mandatory and % does not depend much on anything unless someone messed up.

Commission on sales is very different from restaurant tips.

Re: “No tax on tips” is an industry plant

#479

Post by logifail »

voidUpdate wrote: post #309
joebe89 wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who also lives in the UK this surprises me. Almost every restaurant I eat at now takes the liberty of adding a 10% service charge onto every bill. I assume the idea of which is to make it awkward/embarrassing for you to request to have it taken off.

I may have had this happen without realising, but in my head, a tip is something you choose to add on extra, whether for good service or because the workers aren't getting paid properly. If I get a service charge, that's more like just part of the bill that I would pay, though I've only really noticed it as part of online stuff, for example my bank has a £25 service change to send money overseas (for some reason, I c…

> for example my bank has a £25 service change to send money overseas

OT but the kind of bank that charges £25 for something like that is almost certainly robbing you blind on the exchange rate, too.

Re: “No tax on tips” is an industry plant

#480

Post by xp84 »

FeloniousHam wrote: post #403
xp84 wrote: post #371

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The gready sleazeballs who like the "tipping" system (mostly, restaurant owners) would prefer to pay all their employees $0 and have all diners/customers/etc pay 100% of the wages out of guilt. While 10% was customary in the first half of the 20th century, the standard tip gradually increased to 15% by the 1980s. In 2025 it's not uncommon to see little shortcut buttons for 20, 25, 30%. You can see where this is going…

Ah yes, the greedy sleazeballs. If you knew that the total cost of the meal would be the same, say $20 for the meal, does it to you matter if: 1) you pay $20 "no tip" and the owner pays non-tip minimum wage, or b) you pay $16.50 for the food and $3.50 separately to the server in the form of a tip ?

> If you knew that the total cost of the meal

That's the crux of it. All surcharges are scams designed to trick the customer into thinking the meal is priced lower than it is. Sales tax not built into menu prices is a scam that the government is at fault for allowing. All other surcharges including the socially-obligatory tip and the scummy "health care surcharges" common in California, are scams that the restaurant is choosing to do. All of these are insulting.

It's no different than telling women I'm 6' and then when they meet me revealing that's only when I'm wearing cowboy boots and a big hat.

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