After the House of Representatives passed its 鈥渂ig beautiful bill" of goods, I went to dinner at a favorite restaurant in Philadelphia. I know the people there. They are friendly, hardworking and allow me to speak Italian with them.
Christine Flowers
It is a place where I can forget I am in a city where some of the trash is piling up on street corners (the garbage collectors are on strike), and some people are marching through those streets yelling about genocide. This restaurant is my Italian home away from home.
After enjoying my Carciofi fritti and tagliatelle alla panna, all washed down with an Aperol Spritz, I was faced with an existential crisis. Pondering the check, which was quite reasonable, I had to decide whether to leave the 40% that I always tip at this restaurant I love, or cling to my principles and do what I said I would do on Facebook: Leave nothing more than a 10% token.
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I made this vow of gratuity poverty after reading about the 鈥渘o tax on tips鈥 provision in the Republican-approved bill. Among many other aspects of the egregious mess that Congress passed, dropping federal taxes on tips angered me the most. Why give special treatment to money earned from tips, as opposed to all the other ways hardworking Americans earn money?
Enough about food industry workers making their living on tips because they earn so little in their regular paychecks. Enough about how they work so hard to make sure that we all enjoy magnificent dining experiences (yeah, right.)
I鈥檝e heard these arguments repeatedly. My response comes from my 鈥渂link and you will miss it鈥 foray into the food service industry. I worked at a fast-food restaurant, which is even more grueling than working in a trendy bar or a Michelin-starred restaurant.
Oh 鈥 and I didn't earn tips.
It turns out you don鈥檛 get a gratuity after waiving 鈥淗appy Trails鈥 to a cranky customer who just told you to do something anatomically impossible to yourself. So please excuse me if I don鈥檛 have much empathy for those who say they shouldn鈥檛 have to pay taxes on their income.
Our nation鈥檚 paltry federal minimum wage of just $7.25 an hour is rightly criticized as far too little to sustain a worker, let alone a family.
Tips are income -- period. And that income averages $25 an hour for wait staff at full-service restaurants, according to the payroll company ADP. At upscale restaurants, $50 an hour is not uncommon.
The solution for people who aren鈥檛 happy with what they鈥檙e earning from tips is to get another job.
Maybe teach in a Catholic school, where they don鈥檛 get tips and their entire paltry income is taxed. Maybe become a trash collector where the conditions of your employment are likely far worse than a job serving up platters of pasta. Perhaps become a health care worker and empty bedpans, with no tips, for minimum wage.
Whatever you do, though, do not try to convince me that your tips should get a subsidy from fellow taxpayers.
In case you missed it, yes 鈥 I am outraged by Congress approving one of President Donald Trump鈥檚 most pandering campaign promises. I doubt this put him over the top last November. But I do remember him out on the campaign trail talking like a 21st century Emma Goldman about the value of the proletariat, and how they needed a break from the establishment.
Giving one group of people a special tax break, whether or not they need or deserve it, is an insult to the other hardworking Americans who show up every day, do their jobs and rarely get so much as a 鈥渢hank you,鈥 much less a 20% tip.
I suppose I now have to learn how to cook.
