I am asking that the government create a new system for the taxing of restaurant employees. I have been a server now for eight years and I feel that especially recently, with the economy the way it is, I am being unfairly taxed. I am required to claim that I made 10 percent of my sales each day, after I have tipped out to other employees (such as bartenders, bussers, and food runners) 44 percent of my entire tips I have received. So, if I receive a $10 tip, I personally receive only $6 dollars, while my fellow employees receive the other $4. If my sales (total amount of all my tables itemized charges) for the day were $1000, the government claims that I made $100. This is soley based on the principle that people are tipping at least 14.5% of the check or higher.
The problem is when people tip 10% to start, less, or not at all. After tipping out, this means that I am being taxed on money I do not make. Imagine if other professionals were taxed on paychecks that were higher than what they actually received- there would be an outcry! With the economy suffering, surprisingly, people are still eating out (for there must be a much more substantial crisis for people to give up those kind of luxuries,) they are just not tipping what they should. Some of it is based on the lack of math ability (people have a hard enough time adding their tip to a total, let alone using mulitiplication) and some is based off of forgetting to leave a signed copy with the tip for their server, or on the current economy.
The worst scenerio is when people tip absolutley nothing, because if their check was $50, then the government says I made $5, when I actually made nothing. Adding these situations up throughout your shift, I am actually paying the government through my taxed paycheck, for money I did not receive. Yes, I am actually losing money by serving these people. I don't know too many people that would like to pay to work. It's absurd. There needs to be a better system for how restaurant employees are taxed and it should not be based on "generally, the public tips servers 15%." If tips are really left up to the customers discretion, than there will be a much larger gap in what a server actually makes. Perhaps a requirement of at least 15% would solve the problem. Than I may not be starving on the whims of a mathmatically challenged, lower- class stereotyped, consistently forgetful, nit-picking public.
