When Eileen Scott first heard of a proposal to eliminate taxes on tips, her first thought was, “That’s the greatest idea.”
Scott, a cocktail server at Harrah’s Las Vegas, said tips are an important part of her income, and some days, they’re great. But employment as a tipped worker is complicated, she told Hotel Dive. Customers’ tipping habits fluctuate wildly — and her actual tips are often much smaller than her tippers think.
“When the guests give [a tip] to you, they give it to you because you took care of them. They give it to you as a gift,” she said. They don’t think about how those tips end up split between the bartender, barback and Uncle Sam, she said.
Scott is among a cohort of the hospitality industry — including hotel employees, hotel associations and hotel worker unions — who support the elimination of federal taxes on tipped wages.