> I'd be willing to pay more taxes to help the economy, but most people are against this

They are against this because paying more taxes does nothing to "help" the economy. Where do you think tax money goes? It doesn't go to people's bank accounts to pay for rent, groceries, car payments, utility bills etc. or any of the places that would directly contribute to the economy.

> In the mean time I do my part by eating out more often and visiting small businesses.

And as already discussed below - you are also screwing over the employees at those businesses. Quite literally costing them money they could make by serving someone who will tip... so they can, you know, pay for rent and contribute to the economy.

Not to open this argument but it's not the patron's job to ensure the staff are paid appropriately. If servers don't want to run the risk of not being paid at least minimum wage, they should ensure their conditions of employment guarantee it and the business should reflect it in their prices.

$30 Hamburger, or $25 Hamburger + $5 tip.

With the latter, you at least get to decide how much to tip - and if you received awful service, you have some recourse/feedback mechanism.