So they keep telling us. I would wager that most waiters and waitresses voted for Obama. Probably loved the idea of taxing and fair share and all that crap. They skew younger and probably poorer so I would guess from just simple demographics that we have a pretty democratic voting bloc. So I'm curious what the reaction will be if and when this comes down.
The Internal Revenue Service in 2014 will enforce a new rule that will require restaurants to recognize automatic gratuities added to large parties as taxable wages and not as tips.
This means waiters will no longer be able to take automatic tips home with them and it could also mean the discontinuation of the automatic gratuity.
“This new IRS rule is one more mandate to comply with and one more way to make sure the IRS extracts every possible penny out of hard-working waiters and small business people — the very folks who are suffering most in this weak economy,” Daniel Garza, executive director of the LIBRE Initiative (a right-of-center Hispanic group) said in a statement on the rule.
So the average server goes home with a pile of cash will now have to wait for it on their paycheck. Most of us have to do that so I'm not weeping too much about that change. But that's not the point, is it? If someone chooses a profession that pays daily and that's good for their lifestyle, who the hell is the IRS to tell them they can't do that?
But worse, let's face it, some people are douchebags. They will go to a restaurant with 20 of their friends, spend 500 dollars and leave a four dollar tip. Some restaurants put the 18% on the tab to protect their workers. Imagine, a private company trying to take care of their employees. And here's the government trying to put an end to that.
So who's heartless again? The people getting hurt are the very people that need their jobs the most. I wouldn't put a waitresses salary up against a CEO. Or a congressman for that matter. This is what government does. It does not help, it always screws things up.
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