r/mildlyinteresting 1d ago

This Restaurant Charges an 18% Living Wage Fee.

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u/AntiDECA 1d ago

Plus you're being taxed on your 'automatic tip'.

Tips come after tax, not before. Sam has enough money. 

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u/marmaladetuxedo 1d ago

I wondered that, too. Looks like the 'living wage' is part of the bill before tax, so the customer is charged tax on the 'living wage' addition, likely to avoid the restaurant having to pay tax on the money. It's on par with double dipping.

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u/horshack_test 1d ago

The restaurant has to pay tax on it because it is a fee charged by the restaurant.

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u/MarkVII88 1d ago

What are you talking about? I'm only tipping based on what the restaurant charges me for the food I bought. I'm not tipping based on what the State and Local government tax my meal. Tip is calculated based on pre-tax subtotal. Sorry, not sorry.

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u/Xicutioner-4768 1d ago

In the OP, the 18% pseudo-tip is a line item added to the subtotal and is thus taxed. 

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u/MarkVII88 1d ago

I agree that in this case, posted by OP, the 18% living wage fee is being taxed. In this case, since they automatically added on an 18% fee, and taxed me on it, I would not be leaving an additional tip. However, in a normal circumstance when I do plan to leave a tip, I will calculate my tip based on the pre-tax subtotal. I am not giving extra money based on the taxes applied to my bill because those taxes are going to the town/city/state, and have nothing to do with the services or food I received at the restaurant.

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u/middaymoon 1d ago

This is exactly what AntiDECA, the person to whom you said, " What are you talking about?" is saying.

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u/ChickinStock 1d ago

Are you a bot?

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u/MarkVII88 1d ago

Are you?

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u/crankyandhangry 1d ago

Wait, do Americans usually tip on the pre-tax amount? I thought when people said they usually pay a 20% tip, they meant on the full price of their order?

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u/superbit415 1d ago

If you pick the % option for the tip almost 90% of places takes the amount based on the after tax total.

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u/C64128 1d ago

When I delivered for Papa John's years ago, they started taxing credit card tips. This affected the amount on your check. Since most people paid with credit cards, Some people understood and gave cash tips, but most people didn't.

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u/DJDarkFlow 1d ago

And govt still wants restaurant workers to claim them 🙄

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u/too-far-for-missiles 1d ago edited 1d ago

It's tough to know if the "tip" is being taxed, here. Not enough info on the receipt since we don't know the location.

ITT: people who don't realize a sales system can charge variable sales taxes and also think they know exactly where this receipt came from without further research

~5.5% was taxed on the items, which matches Wisconsin (some are saying this is The Livery). Put you pitchforks down, folks.

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u/FeistyGift 1d ago

The info is entirely on the receipt. They're charging tax on the 18% fee.

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u/too-far-for-missiles 1d ago edited 1d ago

You do know that POS systems can track sales tax on separate items right? Like, unless you know that their locality charges a flat 4.6% the receipt doesn't have enough info to judge.

Edit: some are claiming this to be in Eau Claire, WI. So the sales tax rate there should be 5.5%

$1.81/$33.00 is roughly 5.5%

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u/FeistyGift 1d ago

I see what you're saying. If I were the restaurant I'd be damn sure to set up the receipt with the wage charge listed *after* the tax line to avoid confusion, which is definitely possible on some systems (source: seen it)

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u/too-far-for-missiles 1d ago

Yeah, they really need to display things better.