No Tax on Tips

[smokebreaks]

As you know I have clients who own restaurants. Their success means a great deal to me.

No tax on tips is a great incentive for many of their employees in the moderately priced establishments.

However, also in their portfolio of offerings, is a high end steakhouse that has bartenders and waitstaff servers pulling in upwards of $90k+ a year on average with at most 30 hour a week part time gig.

Even the guys washing dishes in the kitchen…they’re paying them nearly $25 an hour simply because keeping them happy prevents them from throwing away the profits along with the silverware or breaking dishes.

Have you attended any events at like a sports stadium or other cashless event at an entertainment venue or a restaurant that uses toast or one of the other pos systems? Not the sit down and order place but the stand in line and get your shit and go…like that crumbl cookie place, you order your cookies on an iPad, like $5 a cookie, yeah no shit 6 cookies, $30.00 then they force you to pay with an electronic payment, proceed to the counter and they hand you a box with your cookies… and like everywhere else damn near everyone wants a tip of at least 18% when you hit that checkout button.

Now for a guy like me that adds up when you eat out probably 30 meals a month which to be clear it’s not a big deal for me to tip, which I do so quite generously at least 20% most everywhere because I appreciate the service and know how hard they work but these fucking corporate stores tacking that shit on to every beer sold at ballpark or football field is fucking ridiculous.

[Prawn Connery]

Fuck tipping. If companies don't pay their employees enough, why should customers?

We don't have tipping culture here because people get paid fairly and don't have to rely on largesse. You can tip if you want to – ie; you get exceptional service or just feel like splashing the cash – but no-one expects it here to do their job.

[smokebreaks]

When I was in England I made the mistake of leaving my change on the bar… the barmaid hunted me down, handed it back and said she doesn’t take charity.

If you travel and stay at those five star hotel resorts outside of America, they typically have a no tipping policy as well and if the staff is caught accepting gratuity, they get fired.

[Butcher Bob]

I'm okay with it...if we go to European style tipping.

As a kid I remember my dad religiously tipping exactly 10%.
NOW, places start with a minimum required tip of 15%, 18%, or even 20%.
AND there are even folks in full wage jobs that think you must tip them too.
Hell, even business owners and managers think they have a right to a percentage of employee's tips.
It's become a scam...fukking just pay a living wage to folks and be done with it.

[roller24]

Now that we know how you feel about tipping, let's discuss the topic, which is the taxation of tips.
Trump wants tips to be tax free.
This would in my opinion benefit alot of working single moms, students, retired people who have to take a job to supplement SS, and others.
It would also ease the burden on the businesses that have to match the FICA and FUTA taxes of their employees.
I remember the IRS visiting my restaurant and pushing the TIPS program which was basically, asking the business to lean on the tipped employees by coercing them to report all their tips, and also report 15% of their sales as additional income on their paycheck.

I see it as a win for the people and a fuck off to the IRS. I support the notion 100%

[dill786]

Bartenders earning $90 k plus

damn!!!

that is more than what graduates earn..

[Solid Gold Butt Plug]

Tax break for pretty people.

Did I ever tell you I use to make $150 in tips per night delivering pizzas in the 90’s, plus I made more than minimum wage. Those were such good times, didn’t even feel like work.

[Prawn Connery]

Tax break for pretty people.

Did I ever tell you I use to make $150 in tips per night delivering pizzas in the 90’s, plus I made more than minimum wage. Those were such good times, didn’t even feel like work.

Man, I want to know what you sprinkled on those pizzas.

[Butcher Bob]

Now that we know how you feel about tipping, let's discuss the topic, which is the taxation of tips.
Trump wants tips to be tax free.

Good move for Trump.
Good move for folks that get tips...in the short term.
Bad move for folks that get tips...in the long term.
Bad move for the country's fiscal responsibility/debt.
Personally, I can see valid arguments on both sides.

[Intrinsic]

Sen. Ted Cruz’s No Tax on Tips Act Does Little for Low- and Moderate-Wage Workers But Opens Door to Tax Abuse by Wealthy
This legislation may sound like pro-worker tax reform, but it’s just more of the 2017 tax law’s empty promises for workers and giveaways for the wealthy.

...
At the same time, the No Tax on Tips Act contains few, if any, guardrails to prevent high-income professionals such as hedge fund managers from shifting their compensation to a tax-free tipping model. Given the difference in tax rates, the tax breaks from exempting part of these high earners’ income from income taxes would be far larger than any tax breaks for lower-income workers.
For instance, a married couple making $1 million in wages could get a tax cut of $180,000 by shifting half of those wages to tax-free tips.
Sen. Cruz’s bill attempts to cover for the regressivity of the 2017 tax law but opens the door to even larger tax cuts for the wealthy.


https://www.americanprogress.org/articl ... y-wealthy/