President Trump has a great idea about eliminating the taxes on tips. Predictably the left is losing their minds at the idea that a dollar could slip through their hands. Some are predicting that the government could possibly lose $20 billion or more per year in tax revenue, but a recent column in American Thinker clearly reminds us exactly what happens to money that is given to tip earners. It goes directly into their pockets and ultimately directly into the economy.
As author John F. Di Leo says in his column:
The earners spend every dollar they have in their local economy. If a waiter, bartender or delivery man has cash, they’ll put it right back into the hopper, by buying pizza for their family or buying diapers and formula for their kids. As every economist knows, money in the private sector multiplies; it keeps creating more value with every exchange until the sponge of government soaks it up and takes it out of circulation.
So, President Trump’s proposal isn’t just good for the recipients of these tips; it’s good for their local communities as well.
President Trump and his supporters know this; the Left doesn’t understand it.
As a person who lived for many years on "tokes", while working in Vegas casinos I can tell you that sometimes you're living so close to the edge people would be very surprised. Sure there are some people in Vegas and other places making a lot of money in tips, but most of them really don't. Not to mention the fact that there are a whole lot of people who make tips that nobody is held accountable for; hairdressers, mail carriers and newspaper deliverers at Christmas, housekeeping staff, the person who does your pool or your lawn. All kinds of people are tipped routinely and they don't have to declare their tips. They're not considered to be in a tip-earning industry so they get a free ride. How is that fair?
Ignored by the Twitterati is the fact that just because prices go up on products and services, we should not assume for a second that tips go up automatically. When I worked in a locals' casino, I waited on the same people for years in some cases. They'd give me a quarter, fifty cents, or maybe a dollar and that would never change over the years. With prices going up on everything from cocktails, to dinner, to valet parking, tips aren't keeping up with inflation. They never have, but it's getting much worse now.
People are pissed that they've already had to pay enough money for valet parking or an expensive drink so they don't feel like tipping the waiter or waitress the customary 20% or 25% or whatever they normally would tip. Remember, tips are voluntary. And when people are already feeling squeezed, they're not quite as generous.
The biggest problem with this whole topic of discussion is a lot of the people who make policy have never actually earned a tip in their lives. They've walked out of college into some cushy government internship and have never had to bus a table or scrimp to survive. They feel tip earners are beneath them somehow.
And while nasty, rude, ungrateful clients aren't exclusive to tip earning industries, the idea that you could work a full day and walk out with barely more than your meager hourly wage just because people are cheap, is a reality for many.
You could argue that the workers in that category knew that going in, and that's true, but what an amazing relief it would be not to have to pay taxes on the income that is so unrealible but so necessary, especially in Joe Biden's ecomony. Instead of going into bureaucrats' hands, it would go directly into the economy.
Once again, President Trump comes up with a great idea and his detractors are forced to come up with a response to it. A good idea is a good idea, no matter who comes up with it. At least that's the way it should be.
Heidi Harris
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