Reply to WARNING: Tipping traps – Suggested tips based on total after tax (not your food bill!)

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Reply to "WARNING: Tipping traps – Suggested tips based on total after tax (not your food bill!)"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]People like the OP make me crazy, because they are both cheap and bad at math.  Let's break this down:

- The tax on restaurant food and drink in Arlington totals 10% - the 6% regular sales tax and an extra 4% food and beverage tax.  
- Let's assume that the OP is tipping 20%, though I tend to doubt that.  
- Let's also assume that OP spent $100 pretax on her meal - a nice round number.  With tax, the meal was $110.  
- If she tipped on the the pretax total, she'd leave a tip of $20, and the total bill would be $130.  $100 + $20 + $10 = $130.  
- If the tipped on the after tax total, she'd leave a tip of $22, and the total bill would be $132.  $100 + $10 + $22 = $132.

That's right - there is 2% difference.  Assuming a 10% tax, if you tip on the after tax amount you will tip a whole $2 for every $100 you spend on food and drink.  If you go out for a very expensive meal and spend $500, tipping on the after tax amount will cost you an extra $10.

What I tell my daughter is look at total bill, move the decimal point, multiply by 2, and round up.  It's easy, and you don't out yourself as a pedantic weasel.

Finally, OP, you didn't "have to" manually edit the tip - you chose to, because, as I said above, you are cheap and bad at math.

[/quote]

I disagree.  This is about the Suggested Tip automatically put on the bill by the restaurant.  [b]There is no reason that someone who lives in a low sales tax state should be suggested to leave less tip than someone in a high sales tax state.  [/b][/quote]

Because the server at least commutes through the higher tax area, even if they don’t [b]live[/b]there. OP, those $2/$100 off eating out mean less to you than to the server. The proof is that you choose to eat out. If you need to stiff your server to afford the meal, you can’t afford the real cost of the meal. Just don’t eat out, or choose to eat at places within your budget. [/quote]

Ugh, fixed the typo. Sorry.[/quote]

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