My son was a waiter and did very well for himself while in school. Far better than working in my fast food restaurant when he was younger and I paid more than minimum wage.
Given the choice, I had several staff quit on me because they got a waitressing job and getting tips to make more money was the reason. I had several waitresses tell me that was the reason they would not work for me.
My son always tips 20% or more, no matter the service, because he was a waiter once. I tell him he's foolish as I tip 15% for good service and adjust up/down accordingly.
I'd be rather more worried about getting caught by the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency.
If the IRS went on a crusade against underreported tips, there would be an absolute bloodbath in the poorer parts of this country, as tips easily represent more of their income than wages. Fortunately untaxed tips have dropped dramatically now that fewer and fewer people are using cash for transactions, so the IRS has had to take no such corrective actions.
Shouldn't you compare to the minimum wage at least? Or you could compare to a standard wage similar to what would be paid in other countries.
It constitutes a HUGE part of your take home pay for two reasons:
- If you are a waiter, tips will be multiples of your hourly pay.
- Tips will be under the table, saving you another ~25% easily.
So if you make a tipped hourly wage in Ohio:
- $4.15/hr * 7 hour shift (5pm open to 12pm close): 29.05
- Wait 6 tables, each with 3 seated parties, that tip you each $10: $60 * 3 = $120
Tips represent 4x of your salary. If your job gave you an untaxed 400% bonus at the end of every day, would you vote against it?