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Friday, Feb. 3, 2012 | 2:02 a.m.
Ron Paul’s guest column on doing away with taxes on tips shows exactly how far out of touch he is with the world today, especially Nevada. Our casino workers are not “young people just trying to make a few extra dollars.” They are all ages of adults who earn a very good living, with benefits, there are all ages working in Nevada’s casino industry.
His outrage that the “IRS makes an estimate,” thus overtaxing the individuals, is also wrong. The IRS makes a very low, negotiated estimate, which the employee then reports and the IRS is not allowed to question. The actual amount, which is much higher than the estimate, is actually known since it is casino employees who count the money and make the distribution. In his zeal to garner votes from these employees he misses the mark in both directions.
Ms. Finnegan,
I suspect that you have never worked at a job where you receive tips. I have.
Granted, in Nevada an employer is not allowed to deduct tips from what must be paid to an employee to reach minimum wage, but other states allow just that. Ron Paul's proposal would mean a significant boost in income for those employees.
I urge you to take a job as a food server in a coffee shop off the Strip and then reconsider what Ron Paul is suggesting.
In the meantime, you probably shouldn't eat at any establishment where the staff knows your name and might have read this letter.
So you could always get rid of those Union Dues
ron paul does nothing more than appeal to populist notions...
like do away with the fed...
guess what ronnie boy...
but for the fed...
the world would be in the greatest depression of all time...
all time...
by a mile...
all but a couple banks would have failed...
the financial system would have collapsed...
and yet...
ronnie keeps singing that song...
just like our republican friends always claiming that cutting taxes creates jobs...
just not true...
bush created hardly any jobs...
the only thing that happened with the bush tax cuts is...
the deficit grew...
the national debt exploded...
and the rich got richer...
bottom line...
the republicans live in fantasy land...
period...
end of story...
As long as it's taken from the other guys, it's swell with folks such as Virginia. Take away any deduction she's presently getting and watch her squeal like a pig. I worked for 9 years at a job in which I depended on my tips for economic survival. However, I was not upset with the "tip offset" contract with the IRS. It meant I no longer had to keep records or report tips as they were automatically configured and taxes were witheld from every paycheck, but I would have been delighted to not to have paid any taxes on tips received. I'm sure the beleagured tipped workers of today feel the same. Most work harder than ever since management has found it can employ only 2 to do the work 3 used to do and the stress has never been greater on those remaining in the work force. At least those folks work for a living and do not belong to the "parasitic" class that has grown substantially under Osama Obama and his "let's be like Europe & distribute the wealth" agenda.
Ivfacts101
Jerry, very good response from you.But do you still have to address President Obama as "osama obama". Your dislike for the President is very evident. You could still get your point across and also show some respect for the title of our elected President,like him or not.
I agree with the letter writer, the tip earners are not paying anywhere near the actual tax due on real tips received, why nobody complains about this and rather focus on Mitt Romney paying 15% on millions is beyond me.
sam are you talking about the other people who call President George Bush and everyone associated with the republican party names do the same and show respect? Or are we just not supposed to call Obama names?
His proposal seems to be an erstwhile appeal for Nevada votes, but at least it is consistent with his approach to taxation. Paul's strategic goal seems to be to eliminate the income tax & the IRS, while his more realistic tactical goal is to to cut taxes & spending where he can. Consistent & rational -- though I'm convinced achieving his strategic goal is unacheivable in the short term, and he doesn't seem to have a plan to get us from here to there. Based on his Constitutionalist apporach to governing, I'd be more willing to take him seriously if his national security & foreign policy ideas weren't so neo-isolationist and elementary.
Let's call Ron Paul's idea what it should be called - the Stripper Tax.
Under his plan strippers would pay no income tax because they earn 100% of their money on tips.
The plan should also apply to any earnings that come from a bonus since those are traditionally unknown. That will appeal to the Wall Street bankers than earn six figure bonuses.
If it passes I will reduce my tipping by 30% so that the workers will take home the same amount.
petef
Peter, I don't care for former President George W. Bush or his polices but he was the President. To compare President Obama to the world's greatest terrorist osama bin laden is pretty low.
RE Jerry Fink. Good comment Jerry. My wife would still be working if the corporate greed-heads hadn't decided that they could, somehow, maintain the same level of customer service with 1/3 fewer employees. Rather than face surgery, she decided to retire, with her health intact. She was a tipped employee, but the monetary gain was not the main reason she retired, it was her health. By the way, her position was not filled when she retired.
Obviously the author hasn't done much research on how much money could be saved with Ron's policies. If implemented back in the 80's we could probably have free healthcare for everyone in America and Obamacare would be a mute subject. Nation rebuilding and to think not policing the world could've adverted 9/11, along with all that money saved....tax enslavement is NOT a good idea...the democrats just keep asking for more and more of your money. And i voted for Kerry against Bush ...the this independant will not vote for the Obama corporate machiene.
The letter writer's statement that Ron Paul's views 'shows exactly how far out of touch he is with the world today' seems a bit misguided. Las Vegas, as much as some would believe, is not the entire world. Nor can you compare the employees in one sector of service to the entire industry.
The statement that 'Our casino workers are not "young people just trying to make a few extra dollars." frameworks the flaw in her own argument. They are not the people that would benefit the most from his policy. Many millions of other service workers across the nation however would benefit.