That's exactly how it works in many european countries, especially the ones without a legal minimum wage (Austria for example), so people working "slave" gig jobs (cleaners, delivery, construction and hospitality workers, etc.) where if they earn below a certain "livable' threshold, get various tax credits, subsidies and benefits from the government to reach that "livable" threshold, which, while it sounds good, it creates a perverse incentive where employees arrange with the employer to be paid as little on paper as possible to still qualify for the government subsidies and then get paid the rest under the table (tipping is expected here for this reason) which just moves the burden from the employers of paying a livable wage to the customers and to the taxpayers which are basically subsidizing their business.