Reformed Tipping Culture

This month—the first month of 2024—I’m putting words to some of my resolutions, using “Jonathan Edwards’ Resolutions” as a starting point. (He wrote his resolutions at 19, and I’m writing these at 29, so I’m only a decade behind him in spiritual maturity, right?)

I mentioned in my New Year post last week, some of Edwards’ resolutions really resonate with me in my current life chapter. One resolution especially stood out as I start up a new job in the hospitality industry, serving at a new Japanese concept in downtown Detroit’s Book Tower. Edwards, writing around the New Year of 1723, has as his 39th resolution,

“Resolved, never to do anything that I so much question the lawfulness of, as that I intend, at the same time, to consider and examine afterwards, whether it be lawful or no; except I as much question the lawfulness of the omission.”

To paraphrase in twenty-first-century American English, “I will not do something I think might be illegal. After the fact, I will reflect on whether that action would have actually been legal.”

In the American service industry, one topic on the legality front comes up more than any other: the tipping culture.

American Restaurant Tipping Culture

First, a little background on this culture. In Michigan, servers in restaurants currently make $3.93 an hour (while minimum wage in the state is at $10.33). The expectation is that servers will make up the difference (and then some) through tips from customers.

How much customers should tip in the USA has been a growing, changing conversation for decades. Earlier this year, I talked with one of my Dutch cousins about this, as we sat in a restaurant in the Netherlands. We talked about the Dutch custom of rounding up the bill, and then we shifted to American customs. My cousin has spent quite a bit of time roadtripping around America, and I asked how he typically approached tipping. He said he tipped the customary 10%.

“I had a feeling you were going to say 10%!” I said. Working at a seafood restaurant in a Florida beach town, I’d come to expect European tourists to leave a 10% tip (though there were exceptions). It felt like someone had communicated to the whole continent that that was the American rule, and my cousin was surprised when I informed him that ordinarily, if I receive a 10% tip from a customer, I’d assume I’d seriously underperformed and disappointed them.

He asked what I’d typically expect, and I explained my typical thought process: For me, an 18% tip meant I did a fine job. Nothing went wrong, but nothing was exceptional. 20% was my benchmark for success. More than that meant the experience had been exceptionally good, and I was thrilled. Less than 18% meant something had gone wrong and perhaps warranted a conversation with a manager to see how we could do better in the future. (Perhaps needless to say, my cousin found this overly complicated!)

Today, if you head to the world’s most popular search engine and type in, “How much should I tip in America?” the top result will say this:

“A gratuity of 20 to 25 per cent on top of the bill (before sales tax) is standard, with extra given for topnotch service. Servers in America work hard for the money – they’re generally friendly, knowledgeable and willing to go the extra mile for customers.”

The article, written from an Australian perspective, adds, “Think of waitstaff as independent contractors you’re paying to wait your table.” They’re coming in not just to take your order and bring your food like a robot, but to curate a personal experience. (It’s very much like being a tour guide, which is what attracted me to the industry in the first place.) If that contractor spirit weren’t involved–if I didn’t have the opportunity to excel at providing a top-notch service and to be compensated based on my performance in each encounter–I wouldn’t be here in the first place.

Like it or not (and there are many on both sides here), the contractor spirit and tipping system are both established parts of the dining experience in American culture (and in other countries). “If you don’t like it,” I remember a friend saying back in college, “maybe don’t eat out at table-side-service restaurants in America! There are plenty of other options for having great food, y’all.”

Tips and Taxes

Now, here’s the thing: According to the Internal Revenue Service, “All cash and non-cash tips…received by an employee are income and are subject to Federal income taxes.” This is a pretty contentious issue, especially amongst servers.

When I first started serving a couple years ago, this was a more frequently discussed topic than I expected. “Tips are a bonus for you!” staff would say. “It’s specifically not your wages! It’s a reward!” Servers already “tip out” portions of their earnings to hosts, assistants, and bartenders (which is fair, for the record, if all parties are doing their part to curate the guest experience), and now the government wants a piece of that hard-earned money, too? The same government that allowed for a system where servers make less than standard hourly wage? The levels of resentment are frequently visible.

At the end of each shift, when servers (and bartenders, but I speak from the perspective of a server) go to check out and print the day’s report, they can see their total sales for the night, their total tips left on credit cards, and how much goes to the tip-out. A computer calculates all that for them.

Before doing the final check out, the computer will also ask a question: “How much did you earn in cash tips?” At this point, servers manually enter how much they made in cash tips that day, and that gets calculated into the grand total of taxable income for that day.

Servers encounter a moral dilemma here: How much of your cash tips do you declare?

When I started, I heard several different ideas about how to handle tips. Some servers declare nothing. “Maybe I’m just a really bad server!” I heard someone say once. “How’s the government gonna know?”

“They’re corrupt anyway! They don’t deserve our money. And we’re just the little guys anyway! Tax the rich!”

Another prospective declares “juuust enough not to raise suspicion…”

And another says, “I’ll keep just a little bit for myself…”

Every time I heard stuff like that, something inside me cringed. My gut told me to declare my tips accurately. That’s what the law says to do, and I’ll be making enough to live on regardless. Is this the attitude of a naive chump, or is there more to it?

What Scripture Teaches about Taxes & Authorities

As with any cringe-inducing issues in my life, I turn to Scripture as a truth-filter. What does the Bible teach me about how to approach this? On the topic of honestly reporting my cash tips as a server, several passages come to mind:

• When the Pharisees of Israel (at the time occupied by Rome) asked Jesus, “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not?” Jesus held out a Roman coin and asked, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” When they answered that it was Caesar’s, Jesus said, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” (Mark 12:13-17) The principle here is clear: The government makes and issues the money. When they ask for some of it, give it to them.

• In Romans 13:1-7, Paul writes, “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God…That is also why you pay taxes, because the authorities are working for God when they fulfill their duties. Pay, then, what you owe them; pay your personal and property taxes, and show respect and honor for them all.” The point here is clear, too: When they fulfill their duties, the government uses tax money to uphold the society you live in, for you. It is respectful and honorable to contribute your fair share.

• Hebrews 13:17 says, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.” This passage makes clear that those in authority will ultimately be held accountable for how they govern. They do not have free rein to collect as much money as they want for their own selfish purposes. Authorities are to do their part to rule with justice and equity, and we are to do our part to honor that and to live in the same manner. Ultimately, God is perfectly capable of perfectly judging each heart accordingly. I trust that more than I trust my own judgment.

• Psalm 145:16 tells me that God “open[s] [His] hand; [and He] satisf[ies] the desire of every living thing.” Paul writes in Philippians 4:19, “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” I know that God is capable of providing all that I need to live life on this earth for as long as I’m supposed to. It doesn’t mean it will always be easy or first-class comfortable, but it will be enough for me to do what He’d have me do. I’d rather do my part to live honestly and with a clean conscience, trusting God to provide what He knows I need, than to fearfully hold back money and face those consequences.

• Peter commands in his first letter, “Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.” (1 Peter 2:13-15) As a Christian, I am called to do all I can to be a model citizen. I’m not always great at it, but it’s always my calling. I never want to give someone an easy reason to dismiss Christianity. I want to live a life that is surprising, even questionable, because I can live with a content conscience that is grounded in the freedom I have in Christ.

• When a young virgin named Mary was pregnant, she and her husband Joseph went to his hometown to register for a Roman census (Luke 2:1). Why would Rome have wanted to take a census of its people? So it could have their personal information to collect taxes from them. Mary and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem in submission to occupying authorities, so that they could pay taxes honestly. That’s how the prophecies about the birth of Jesus Christ came true! It would have been so easy for them to just stay where they were, off the government’s grid, but they didn’t do that, and that was huge. Who knows how huge our honest living will be for us?

So, in conclusion…

This isn’t an exhaustive list of what Scripture contributes to this topic, but it’s enough to be, as Jonathan Edwards was, “Resolved, never to do anything that I so much question the lawfulness of.”

As I start this new serving job in Detroit, I resolve to declare my tips with 100% accuracy. I can advocate for policy changes where I see them needed, and I can do my part to know the tax code and save money where I can, but I can’t in good conscience approach my income here dishonestly. What about you?

Up next: “Resolved, never willfully to omit anything, except the omission be for the glory of God; and frequently to examine my omissions.” (Edwards’ 27th resolution)

Sources:

1. “Jonathan Edwards’ Resolutions.” A Puritan’s Mind. N.d. Web. https://www.apuritansmind.com/the-christian-walk/jonathan-edwards-resolutions/
2. “Minimum Wage Set to Increase January 1, 2024.” Michigan. N.d. Web. https://www.michigan.gov/leo/bureaus-agencies/ber/wage-and-hour/minimum-wage-january-2024
3. Greig, Alex. “The Ultimate Guide to Tipping in America.” Qantas. 6 October 2023. Web. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjr1seXgNODAxUNvokEHZIiCg0QFnoECA0QAw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.qantas.com%2Ftravelinsider%2Fen%2Ftravel-tips%2Fgratuities-and-tipping-in-america.html%23%3A~%3Atext%3DHow%2520much%2520should%2520I%2520tip%2Cthe%2520extra%2520mile%2520for%2520customers.&usg=AOvVaw1o7cZu6PSVWcrCE6IX6SWe&opi=8997844
4. Harowitz, Jenny. “Tipping around the World: A Global Gratuity Guide.” Western Union. 31 July 2017. Web. https://www.westernunion.com/blog/en/global-tipping-guide/
5. “Tip Recordkeeping & Reporting.” Internal Revenue Service. N.d. Web. https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/tip-recordkeeping-and-reporting