Tldr: millions of low paid tipped workers should pay taxes because of a mythical high paid tipped worker.

Removing taxes on tips is a stupid, pandering policy that, at best is just a distraction, and at worse a government subsidy to the restaurant industry.

If we want more progressive taxation that benefits low income earners, we can just do that. Why should a barista make tax-free income but not a janitor? I’m fine with reducing taxes for lower income earners and increasing it for higher income earners. But why should it have anything to do with tips?

Let’s focus on things that don’t dedicate us to a tip-based economy.

To my knowledge, the only change to tips we need is that if your tips are put into a pool to be spread amongst the staff, which is a common practice in restaurants so that the chefs and dishwashers get tips, then the owner can’t include themself in the people to get paid from that pool.

I dated a girl for a while in Ottawa where the owner was taking a huge cut of her tips that way.

low paid

There’s the problem. Removing taxes on tips makes it cheaper for employers to have their workers survive on tips instead of wages. Therefore they keep wages low. As a result, everyone subsidizes those employers’ profits, many of which are large chain ops. Instead of removing taxes on tips, we should remove the double standard low wage for tipped workers, and bring the wage floor up. Also make it easy to unionize and encourage it. Also do something about lowering the profits made by landlords who rent to small businesses. Also do something to lower the profits made by grocers who a lot of those small businesses buy inputs from. If we did all of that, we’d have well paying tipped jobs that could even be viable careers, as well as vibrant local economies that don’t ship most of the profits to a nameless building in some financial capital around the world. And tips would serve the same purpose they do in most of Europe - express gratitude for outstanding service, not a payment the employee depends on for making rent.

Are you familiar with “crabs in a bucket mentality”?

Or how about “don’t let perfect become the enemy of good”?

It seems like your ignoring that this will encourage tipping, that has tended to lower wages, as seen in USA. It doesn’t seem like this is perfect or good

You’re not Canadian. What do you care?

Because I like the hat and the people who live there? How is that a question?

Get rid of tips, completely.

Start paying people actual sustainable salaries instead. Allow people to tip if they really really want to but let it come from the customer. Asking for tips should be prohibited by law.

I’m so sick and tired of having to tip fucking everywhere. Even convenience stores are asking for tips these days.

Stop tipping

Instead of “no tax on tips”, how about lower taxes on all low wages, including tips?

Exactly, this isn’t helping the lowest paid workers anyways as tipped workers are inherently making above minimum wage (except possibly in Quebec). Why should for example a construction labourer making $25/hr pay more in taxes than a server bringing in $100/day in tips (~$30/hr)? If we really want to help the lowest wage workers (and to a lesser extent, all working class) the personal exemption should be much closer to the annual income from full-time minimum wage work.

This is a case of “don’t let the bad make bad stuff worse”.

If your business cannot be profitable paying a living wage to your employees without tips or govt assistance, then perhaps the business model itself is unsustainable.