Yeah, I think people are getting hung up on the terminology. Gratuity and Tip are not accurate descriptions of what is actually going on.
Why should i pay $14 to enter the US?
- Thread starter nacelle
- Start date
Most of the restaurants I go to have a stated policy of adding gratuity to the bill if it exceeds a certain threshold or if the party is of a given size.
Surprised you don't have that where you work.
Well, I'd blame poor restaurant management for that.
Which is why I suggested tipping not based on the price of the food, but rather the quality and quantity of service provided.
That sounds to me like management exploiting workers.
Bull. There is absolutely nothing stopping restaurant owners from paying a full wage.
No kidding. Sucks to make 36. Fuck it takes 30 seconds to look up your tax bracket in the 1040 book. Other things may be confusing or laborious if self employed, but finding your tax on graduated tables is not.
It's ridiculous that the customer is expected to know that and compensate for it.
From what I hear it's pretty easy to get in to the USA for free. Just come from the South.
It's probably even easier to sneak over the Canadian border. At least then you don't have to cross a desert or the Rio Grande.
Yeah, but often people overpay their income tax via PAYE. Whether the convenience is worth it or not kind of depends on how much you're overpaying, and whether the time taken to do a self-assessment instead (or paying an accountant to do it for you) outweighs that. If the job's remuneration is simple, with no obvious deductible expenses, then sure, PAYE is good.
But even something as simple as paying into a private or stakeholder pension can make it worth doing self-assessment, especially once you fall into at least the higher bracket, but sometimes even below this.
No, I think both you guys (Alex, Stoner) are misunderstanding the system. There's no disadvantage to earning over £34,999. On anything below that level, you pay the lower rate. On anything above you pay the higher rate (and then the additional rate above 150k). So someone earning 36, pays 20% on the first 35 (after subtracting your tax-free personal allowance which is generally around £7k give or take), then 40% on just the 1k left over. So you still earn more in total if you earn 36k compared to 35k.
I would like a flat tax system for other, broader reasons, but it certainly isn't due to the current brackets being particularly confusing in essential form.
(how the fuck did we end up talking taxes in this thread?)
Is it? I think while the base rate may be lower for most (I'm usually in the 15-20% range myself), most American restaurant customers do know this...
It isn't exactly arcane knowledge...
One of life's great mysteries...But I don't think many tourists/visitors realise they're subsidising workers' wages.
Because you'll make more money, by any chance?
I'm in favour of that tax system too, whatever it is
Yes of course that's part of it, but it's also quite likely that almost everyone would benefit financially, as it's quite possible that the level of flat tax required to maintain current revenue levels would be lower than the current lower rate of tax, not just lower than the upper brackets, as revenue would rise as a function of the laffer curve, as I suspect that we are already on the right-hand side of the curve in this country. I believe there's been some preliminary statistical modelling by the ONS (or was it the OBR?) supporting this, but of course it remains a controversial suggestion and the case isn't proven yet. However, it's worth exploring further IMO.
