Tax Tip

I know. I know. You're saying Uncle Tommy is a bit late with his tax tips. April 15th has come and gone. No. This isn't about that. Calm down readers! This is about sales tax. Do you ever read those suggested tip amounts at the bottom of your bill in restaurants? Check the math on those things. The suggested tip calculations are all over the place. Some are based on pre-tax totals. Others want you to tip on the after tax total. It varies. Those restaurants who suggest that you don’t tip on the tax want you to figure your tip based a higher percentage of the pretax amount. So, they might want you to tip on 20 or 22% of the pretax amount vs tipping on 15% or 18% of the after tax amount. Confused yet?

I guess my real question is this: If you tip on the tax, shouldn’t the government get that part of the tip?