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No tax on tips--why the hell did the gov't ever think they should get a portion anyway?

Orangeclad

Rowdy Reptile
Jul 5, 2001
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When I give a tip, of my free will, to give or not give, I always thought it was an outrage that govt thought part of it was theirs. I wasn't supplying those workers w-2s.
 
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Why should BOH employees be taxed their full salary but FOH wouldn't.

The pay scale for FOH vs BOH has been a major issue for decades. This will make the divide even greater.

Granted, the restaurant industry needs reforms and their employees to be able to make a living wage wherever they work in the building but this one is a terrible, terrible idea. I don't agree with the National Resty Associations changing minds recently on this issue but that NRA has been useless for many years.

Signed,
Former Restaurant Group Executive
 
I waited tables and bartended all through college.

Tips absolutely should be taxed if it is the primary source of income. And, I’m not talking about giving the guy that pressure washes your house and extra $20. The reality is those are not reported (or taxed) anyway.

But for jobs where they primary pay is a tip, like a bartender, they should absolutely pay taxes on it. We already have too many people that don’t pay any taxes. The reality is not everything is taxed already. A good chunk cash tips a server takes home isn’t “claimed” at the end of the night.

And, what is to stop a hair stylist from charging $10 to cut my hair and putting a mandatory 400% tip on top of it?
 
I waited tables and bartended all through college.

Tips absolutely should be taxed if it is the primary source of income. And, I’m not talking about giving the guy that pressure washes your house and extra $20. The reality is those are not reported (or taxed) anyway.

But for jobs where they primary pay is a tip, like a bartender, they should absolutely pay taxes on it. We already have too many people that don’t pay any taxes. The reality is not everything is taxed already. A good chunk cash tips a server takes home isn’t “claimed” at the end of the night.

And, what is to stop a hair stylist from charging $10 to cut my hair and putting a mandatory 400% tip on top of it?
The whole income tax situation is NOT FAIR. I really wish we would go to a "Fair tax" system that does away with deductions, and EVERYONE pays the same %. I am NOT in favor of a consumption tax, as it encourages people NOT to spend money.
 
I waited tables and bartended all through college.

Tips absolutely should be taxed if it is the primary source of income. And, I’m not talking about giving the guy that pressure washes your house and extra $20. The reality is those are not reported (or taxed) anyway.

But for jobs where they primary pay is a tip, like a bartender, they should absolutely pay taxes on it. We already have too many people that don’t pay any taxes. The reality is not everything is taxed already. A good chunk cash tips a server takes home isn’t “claimed” at the end of the night.

And, what is to stop a hair stylist from charging $10 to cut my hair and putting a mandatory 400% tip on top of it?
Bad example. A tip is voluntary. Your 400% MANDATORY is not a tip. It's a surcharge.
 
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The whole income tax situation is NOT FAIR. I really wish we would go to a "Fair tax" system that does away with deductions, and EVERYONE pays the same %. I am NOT in favor of a consumption tax, as it encourages people NOT to spend money.
Could not agree more with this.
 
Bad example. A tip is voluntary. Your 400% MANDATORY is not a tip. It's a surcharge.
Maybe, but the point still stands.

A very large percentage of service industry employees pay $0 in taxes on a portion of their income. Every dollar or every cash tip is not claimed. No way, no how.

We had a friend who was a hairstylist that probably made about 20% of her income in tips. Why should she not have to pay taxes on it? That doesn’t even count the customers who paid cash that went totally unclaimed.
 
When I give a tip, of my free will, to give or not give, I always thought it was an outrage that govt thought part of it was theirs. I wasn't supplying those workers w-2s.
Unfortunately in the restaurant business, at least, the tip is 90%+ of their pay. Restaurants only have to guarantee that if they don't make enough to equal minimum wage, that the restaurant with pay the difference.
 
Maybe, but the point still stands.

A very large percentage of service industry employees pay $0 in taxes on a portion of their income. Every dollar or every cash tip is not claimed. No way, no how.

We had a friend who was a hairstylist that probably made about 20% of her income in tips. Why should she not have to pay taxes on it? That doesn’t even count the customers who paid cash that went totally unclaimed.
Well, some tips are cash, but a would say a majority (55% +/-) of tips are actually paid by credit cards and in turn are actually being taxed.
 
When I give a tip, of my free will, to give or not give, I always thought it was an outrage that govt thought part of it was theirs. I wasn't supplying those workers w-2s.
I'll say this, a tip is a gift, not a requirement. Under our existing tax laws, gifts are technically taxable to the giver, not the recipient. I think there might be some minimum gift amounts to individuals that are exempt, but I can't remember that number.

My entire life I've taken the stance that hassling minimum wage workers over tips is a fool's errand, is but a drop in the bucket of tax revenue,and a burden on the hospitality industry trying to keep up with the complexities of "imputing" and guessing what a server is getting on the side for their services. Why the IRS chose to go down this rabbit hole is a big mystery to me.

It all goes right back to the core of the problem, "We are the government, and we are here to help". :rolleyes:
 
I may start keeping the tip off the credit card and just handing the server a 5, 10 or 20 and tell them it's just a personal gift. Screw the gov't getting any of it to just completely waste it. How about more studies of shrimp on a treadmill.
I don't eat out much but this is what I do. If the server wants to pool their tips to split with other servers or dishwashers, that's their business, not mine.
 
I may start keeping the tip off the credit card and just handing the server a 5, 10 or 20 and tell them it's just a personal gift. Screw the gov't getting any of it to just completely waste it. How about more studies of shrimp on a treadmill.
i can agree with this. It’s probably the best way to handle it.

At the end of the day, the current tax code is a mess. 47% of people paying $0 in federal income tax is crazy to me.
 
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The whole income tax situation is NOT FAIR. I really wish we would go to a "Fair tax" system that does away with deductions, and EVERYONE pays the same %. I am NOT in favor of a consumption tax, as it encourages people NOT to spend money.
Trump is going to abolish the IRS and income tax. He's been quite clear on that.

Gonna be amusing watching the country having MORE money WITHOUT income tax, and someone libs will still be complaining about it lol

BTW we did this during the Gilded Age. No Income Tax, we funded government off tariffs. Know how the libs convinced us to drop that and adopt income tax? By convincing Americans that ONLY THE RICH benefited from tariffs, and that ONLY THE RICH would pay income taxes.

We never learn.
 
Trump is going to abolish the IRS and income tax. He's been quite clear on that.

Gonna be amusing watching the country having MORE money WITHOUT income tax, and someone libs will still be complaining about it lol

BTW we did this during the Gilded Age. No Income Tax, we funded government off tariffs. Know how the libs convinced us to drop that and adopt income tax? By convincing Americans that ONLY THE RICH benefited from tariffs, and that ONLY THE RICH would pay income taxes.

We never learn.
Yeah, it doesn't sound like you really learned much about the subject before spouting off the above...just regurgitating very simple talking points of a much more complex issue, across a 100 year span.

Apples to cinder blocks sir.
 
Yeah, it doesn't sound like you really learned much about the subject before spouting off the above...just regurgitating very simple talking points of a much more complex issue, across a 100 year span.

Apples to cinder blocks sir.
So you offered grade school insults in an attempt to claim that *I* don't know the topic?

Liberals delight in projection. Be prepared to be upset when Trump makes us richer and you have to pay no income tax lol
 
Trump is going to abolish the IRS and income tax. He's been quite clear on that.

Gonna be amusing watching the country having MORE money WITHOUT income tax, and someone libs will still be complaining about it lol

BTW we did this during the Gilded Age. No Income Tax, we funded government off tariffs. Know how the libs convinced us to drop that and adopt income tax? By convincing Americans that ONLY THE RICH benefited from tariffs, and that ONLY THE RICH would pay income taxes.

We never learn.
What's different now is that thinking people have a healthy skepticism of gov't and media, only sheep believe everything they're told ...
 
I'll believe it when I see it like health care and infrastructure...or eggs 😆
Did you believe it when prices went THROUGH THE ROOF because of unnecessary inflation from the idiots in charge the last 4 years? Did you believe THEM when they said they needed congress to close the border? I must have missed those posts? Bill...you had better go load with some better bullets, son.....
 
I may start keeping the tip off the credit card and just handing the server a 5, 10 or 20 and tell them it's just a personal gift. Screw the gov't getting any of it to just completely waste it. How about more studies of shrimp on a treadmill.
Part of the problem with cash tips is servers are required to share some of that tip $ with busser, host, etc. And I have seen first hand where they often don't share the $. They expect the food runner or busser or host to help them, but then do not want to share the tip.

And, I could be wrong on this, but some restaurants factor in a $amount for cash tips based on the % the server got on credit card tips. Then of course, they only have the $2 to 3 per hour they pay the server to cover the taxes owed. A lot of servers get screwed come tax time.

They only server job I ever had that didn't happen was one that pooled all tips and then the restaurant actually paid they correct amount of the taxes.
 
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When I give a tip, of my free will, to give or not give, I always thought it was an outrage that govt thought part of it was theirs. I wasn't supplying those workers w-2s.
Trump promised to remove taxing tips. So this is a moot convo but I agree.
 
Did you believe it when prices went THROUGH THE ROOF because of unnecessary inflation from the idiots in charge the last 4 years? Did you believe THEM when they said they needed congress to close the border? I must have missed those posts? Bill...you had better go load with some better bullets, son.....
Uh..post covid inflation was a global issue and ours was better than many countries. You don't stop the entire world, keep everyone on payroll and then expect not to have major recovery issues after.

Was Biden at fault for inflation in other countries?
 
Uh..post covid inflation was a global issue and ours was better than many countries. You don't stop the entire world, keep everyone on payroll and then expect not to have major recovery issues after.

Was Biden at fault for inflation in other countries?
Yes! The president controls the world. He/she controls prices as well. That is why eggs are $7-10 dollars because Trump made them that high. Come on, pay attention!
 
Uh..post covid inflation was a global issue and ours was better than many countries. You don't stop the entire world, keep everyone on payroll and then expect not to have major recovery issues after.

Was Biden at fault for inflation in other countries?
Did inflation going up in other countries absolve Biden of his responsibility for contributing to price increases here?

You're playing politics when you should be supporting your country. Prices rose and Biden did nothing. Worse, he told us prices were going DOWN.

He lied. Be better than this.
 
Did inflation going up in other countries absolve Biden of his responsibility for contributing to price increases here?

You're playing politics when you should be supporting your country. Prices rose and Biden did nothing. Worse, he told us prices were going DOWN.

He lied. Be better than this.
Some things came down...some things didn't. It's not black and white.

Maybe because I now oversee a manufacturing plant, I understand more than some how screwed up global trade was. There are sectors that still haven't recovered.

I also never understood how all you free market thinkers want the govt to come in and fix that problem. Which is it? You talk out both sides constantly on this issue...but that's a different discussion.

Overall, I still think the administration with the Fed's guidance did about as well as you can to recover from the pandemic and global re-start without creating a recession. This doesn't mean everything was great. It wasn't. Considering how Trump botched the response the covid....im thankful he didn't get another 4 years to **** it up further. He has a much better chance to be successful than he did 4 years ago. Hope he understands that and helps create a better economy for everyone, not just his cronies.

We did so much better than almost every other country over the last 4 years when it comes to battling global inflation.
 
Some things came down...some things didn't. It's not black and white.

Maybe because I now oversee a manufacturing plant, I understand more than some how screwed up global trade was. There are sectors that still haven't recovered.

I also never understood how all you free market thinkers want the govt to come in and fix that problem. Which is it? You talk out both sides constantly on this issue...but that's a different discussion.

Overall, I still think the administration with the Fed's guidance did about as well as you can to recover from the pandemic and global re-start without creating a recession. This doesn't mean everything was great. It wasn't. Considering how Trump botched the response the covid....im thankful he didn't get another 4 years to **** it up further. He has a much better chance to be successful than he did 4 years ago. Hope he understands that and helps create a better economy for everyone, not just his cronies.

We did so much better than almost every other country over the last 4 years when it comes to battling global inflation.
What came down?

Other than gas, which was temporary, fleeting and agenda driven so they could say that say somethings are coming down ...
 
Why have a president when you can have a king!

Funny how we've gone full circle
Pretty much. Democracy is hard and people don't like waiting on things, BUT it's only ok if that king supports YOUR politics. I hate it myself but I see it and social media is making it worse.
 
Inflation started before any bill or law was passed by Biden, shit it started in late Dec 2020...
Yes, around the time that Covid was getting its footing.

I will wait for the CIA investigation to be completed before yet again commenting about how Covid was purposeful because of the Chinese and or the Democrats or their agents with the Express purpose of getting Trump out of office ...
 
What came down?
I've never understood why liberals can't be honest about their politicians. If a republican screws up, a Trump supporter will call them out before a liberal has the chance.

If a dem screws up, the libs will not only refuse to hold them accountable, they will usually claim the dem did a great job and it was a republican who screwed up.

The indoctrination is insane to see.
 
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