Nontaxed tip wages

Well, this issue warrants some commentary. I grew up in the restaurant industry as a son of a Greek immigrant restauranteur, and as a worker in various restaurants in St. Louis as an adolescent and a young man.

I lived off tips and support the concept philosophically and monetarily. I'm not against nontaxed tips, but I question giving the same tip amounts from my taxed income to those not paying taxes on those wages. I think tipping 15-20% for a sit down experience is reasonable already. And of course, every time one buys a coffee or many other items from even fast casual places with no real service, there is often someone literally staring at me when the screen displays tip amounts (that are starting at 20% more and more!).

I'm getting kind of burnt out on the customer carrying the load for the industry. I am much more tolerant of maw n paws and even local franchises, and have little problems with prices and tips to support these types of businesses that are essential to our local culture and economy . But we are being taken advantage of by large corporations that can skim back on their wages while counting on tips to carry the day. Its simply gone over board in recent years in my opinion.

I already know what my course of action will be. But I wonder how others feel about this.

[Robin Garr]

Those are good thoughts, James. As a matter of principle I tip well, usually over 20%, because I know I can’t change the US tipping culture by punishing the working stiff. I also understand that the no-tax-on-tips rule is set up in such a way that it won’t benefit a lot of workers. It certainly isn’t enough to offset the losses of a worker who loses their Medicaid. The issue of large corporate employers and tip screens is non-traditional settings is complicated, though. In going to have to think about that.

The issue of large corporate employers and tip screens is non-traditional settings is complicated, though. In going to have to think about that.

I posted about this 6 months ago in another thread...I too was giving this some thought and began asking the counter person if they ever got any of the tip...the answer was "NO" no one has ever gotten a piece of that action." Just another money grab for the owner!

It certainly isn’t enough to offset the losses of a worker who loses their Medicaid.

Why would a worker lose their medicaid?

[Robin Garr]

Why would a worker lose their medicaid?

The Great Big Awful and Ugly Bill is going to strip it from a lot of people – including people on KYNect here in Kentucky – but curiously it won't hit until after the midterm elections. I wonder why they scheduled it that way.

The Great Big Awful and Ugly Bill is going to strip it from a lot of people – including people on KYNect here in Kentucky

I read that only illegals will be automatically dropped from the medicaid rolls...seems sensible to me.

[Robin Garr]

I read that only illegals will be automatically dropped from the medicaid rolls...seems sensible to me.

Jerry, I don’t think that’s correct. I’ll try to come up with a link to a good source tomorrow.

Can we please agree not to label human beings as “illegals,” though. So many people have stories we couldn’t even imagine.

I read that only illegals will be automatically dropped from the medicaid rolls...seems sensible to me.

How can undocumented humans be dropped from something they are ineligible for in the first place? If rural hospitals have to close, does that only affect immigrants?

The Great Big Awful and Ugly Bill is going to strip it from a lot of people – including people on KYNect here in Kentucky

I read that only illegals will be automatically dropped from the medicaid rolls...seems sensible to me.

No matter who told you this lie, undocumented immigrants do not receive the benefits that they pay into with their taxes.

How can undocumented humans be dropped from something they are ineligible for in the first place?

No matter who told you this lie, undocumented immigrants do not receive the benefits that they pay into with their taxes.

Medicaid is a STATE run program and several states offer medicaid or "medicaid-like" services to undocumented immigrants.

California, Illinois, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, & Washington.

In addition, to those listed above, the following states - Colorado, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Utah, & Vermont - offer funds to undocumented pregnant women and children.

The recently passed legislation calls for reduced federal medicaid expansion funding for states that use state funds to provide medicaid to undocumented immigrants.

The CBO estimates that the “BBB” will cut Medicaid by $1.02 TRILLION by 2034. They also estimate that at least 10.5 million people will lose coverage, with “at least” doing a lot of heavy lifting as other estimates are considerably higher. The sponsors of this bill are being disingenuous when they are arguing that the only ones who will lose coverage are those that refuse to work, as only about 8% of beneficiaries fall into that category. The additional paperwork requirements alone will drive many out of the program, on purpose. And yes, rural hospitals will be greatly affected. As to undocumented immigrants, most states prohibit them from eligibility as it is. The truth is that these individuals pay far more into “the system” than they receive.
I’ve recently retired from a job pertaining to training state workers, including those working in what Kentucky calls Family Support, and I’d like to point out a consideration that is lost on those unfamiliar with what goes on behind the curtains. Each time there are major policy changes in any program such as Medicaid there are massive knock on training effects. These efforts are not free and they eat into the federal funding stream, as do the increased error rates (states are penalized when they exceed a certain number).
Finally, we cannot ignore the ripple effects of the exploding deficits in the coming years. With the pay-go rules still in effect, sequestration will kick in massive cuts across the board endangering not only Medicaid, but even Medicare. To the sponsors, this is a feature, not a bug.
This legislation is about as regressive as this country has ever seen.

[Robin Garr]

I’ve recently retired

Happy retirement, Steve!

Thanks Robin. Only downside is that, in combination, we've moved out of Louisville and out into the forest, that being the Daniel Boone National Forest near Cave Run Lake. Still maintaining ties though, so I'll continue to watch this space.

[Robin Garr]

I worked in West Virginia for 25 years, commuting back and forth spending 3 nights there throughout most of the school year. The percent of immigrants is 50th, and the percent of resident who speak a language other than English is 50th. The figures are there to read in the past censenses (censi for some folks).

Looking at recent data, about 2% of the population or anywhere from 28,000-32,000 are considered immigrants or of an immigrant family. The number of people on Medicaid in the state, among the highest percentages (along with Ky) is around 500,000 or about 28%.

Visibly, one hears a foreign language spoken here or there, but its occasional, even in the Charleston area. As for illegals, there aren't enough jobs to lure them in, nor do many folks really want them. So it is clear that the illegals are not a huge factor as one may find elsewhere.

So, if you have about 500,000 folks on Medicare, you only have about 30,000 immigrants (mostly assimilated and with documentation or passports), no matter how you fudge the numbers, average folks will be in trouble. Add to that the effects this will have on Obamacare that many people rely on who could never afford open market rates, including probably most of the readers in this forum.

Now as for tips, I'm not sure how this will lay out. But I don't see it favoring ordinary working folks--such as food industry tip earners--or any others.

Looking back at my post, I used a term that Robin requested that we don't use in this post. Frankly, its such a common term that I didn't notice until just now thinking about. So no disrespect, Robin.

Interestingly, I use a lot of French and in fact am now in Quebec City for the month of July. In French I wouldn't even refer to that term, but rather a translation of "non documented" or "without docements."