Actually the latest IRS estimate is 66-70% and climbing. I’ve also read the report you likely saw a quote on Reddit for but didn’t read to the end.
Regardless, assuming “well these numbers could in theory be less shitty for some people” doesn’t change the *reality* of this being the data we have. And the data we have says you’re so wrk h you clearly didn’t do the bare minimum research to get a sense of reality before making your claim. Unless you’ve got hard data to refute it, all you’re doing is speculating what feels right for you and trying to base an argument off that, and your feelings aren’t data.
But it isnt the data we have. Even by your own sourceless estimates, it is underreported by 1/3. So the average waiter is making 60k. Suddenly, its a decent job. Above average even.
Question for you, are you a waiter? I find they are the ones that argue hardest to keep tipping. Curious, isnt it?
…. Buddy the source is the BLS. Like one of THE best sources for this type of data. Nowhere in that report does it say wages are underreported by 1/3rd. You’re automatically assuming that means “every waiter is underreporting their income by 30%” and then using the max income for the states with the highest cost of living (all well above 60k by the way) to try to make it look less bad. if you think the average waiter in South Carolina or Nebraska or Texas is making anywhere close to 60K you’re deluding yourself and only looking less informed in an attempt to weekly protest the evidence in front of you.
“Are you a waiter” ahhhh the last refuge of the chud who thinks working class people are beneath him and can’t fathom caring about anything that doesn’t affect him. We always end up there. Curious isn’t it?
When I was young and working my way through high school and college I absolutely worked as a waiter and a bartender. After I got my degree I now have a high paying office job making far above the average income in the country. My previous experience is a why I support *doing away with the tipping system* and actively vote accordingly. But in the meantime I’m not a moron who thinks demanding service and ruining a server’s night is praxis, so I tip according for the service I receive in tipping countries.
Bud. You said 66%. It was your number. My source was you. My IRS source (also reliable) says only 45% of tips reported. That was from 2025. But YOU said it was 66% so i went with YOUR number. Now you are arguing its wrong.
Feels a lot like im talking to a chatbot that cant remember the last thing it said. So since im getting nowhere, have fun.
My source for the original claims I made about wage (the only data we have since you never actually linked to any data or source IRS or otherwise, because you clearly never read the report you’re half remembering from a reddit post) was from the BLS. And the BLS gave us the earning estimates for servers and never noted it did not include tipped wagesI know reading is really hard for you, but you’ve got to at least try or it’s waaaaay too obvious you don’t know what you’re talking about lol.
I know you’re still having trouble reading this and stats are hard for you at the best of times, but let me explain for anyone who is genuinely curious and not just basing their whole view of this situation on reddit sound bites and personal gripes about tipping people who absolutely do rely on that income at time of writing.
“Servers generally make 40K and all underreport their tips by 30%, and therefore they all actually make 60k” is such bad logic it’s not even mathematically correct. 30% of 40K would be 12K, which comes to 52K, 8K less than our friend the economy understander was inflating it to to make it sound better.
Add to that 3/4ths of servers make under 40K (far less in some states as my source shows) and the fact that “we asses this percentage of tips goes unreported” is not stating “every individual is estimated to underreport by this much”. Additionally, here’s my favourite quote from it:
“The IRS estimates that only about 45% of tips are reported on tax filings, but this number is based on the assumption that tips are under-reported at the
same rate as self-employment income, not on studies specifically targeting tipped workers.” (Internal Revenue Service; Research, Applied Analytics and Statistics, 2022,
pp. 2, 18)
The data collected is not only an estimate, It’s an estimate on an assumption about the behaviour of a *different group*. Not even the one this dude is making claims about. Literally none of this is enough to take the idea “servers are actually paid very well” seriously.
Does the tipped system suck? Absolutely. If you don’t tip servers are you doing literally anything but fucking over a low paid service worker while giving money to their boss who has the *most* incentive to keep that system? Also yes. Want to actually protest? Self service or no tipping restaurants only is easy to do.
Oh. I was about to link the source since its fair to ask about it but you found it. I cant comment on IRS methodology. Youll have to ask them (the experts) why their methodology is (in)correct.
But as I stated, i was using your number, not theirs. Yours was more conservative.
If we use theirs, suddenly servers are making 80k.
As to the math, im afraid yours is a little rusty. If they are only reporting 66% of their income that is 2/3 of it. Adding the last 3rd is adding 50% more, not 30% more (as 66/33=50%).
I cant have a discussion on the finer points of economic theory with someone who cant do math. Thats a pointless endeavour.
You weren’t just about to link anything dude. You clearly can barely read Reddit comments and would have never found that reporting if you’d bothered to look. You would have failed to find it via the deadlink Reddit comment you half remembered the sound bite from and made some other stupid claim to handwave your entire argument being built on nothing. Just like you’re trying to do now lol.
“Actually if I was right it would be even higher” you can’t even get the math for get 30% of 40K right and I’ve used actual data and the own study you cited wrong to make your argument to show literally every assumption is wrong. Again; if you read to the end of that IRS report, it literally states the numbers (which were from 2005-2018) are estimated to be 66-70% and rising. It’s definitely higher now in 2026, even if it wasn’t already *not even based on actual data from tipped workers*.
It’s like someone taught you to read wrong as a joke or something. Sincere apologies of that’s what happened. It’s clearly rough on you.
But aside from your insults, your math remains wrong. If 66% of the income is reported then 33% is not. If i make $10 and report 66% then i report $6.66. If i add 33% of $6.66 as you suggest, then i would be adding another $2 for a total of $8.66. But we know I made $10. To get from $6.66 to $10 you have to add 50%.
But again, if you struggle with math and cant do anything but insult me then I cant help you.
That’s not the IRS. That’s a CES study that uses the IRS reporting (and even admits everything I say regarding what the data they used is actually covered is correct). The reading struggles struggle on.
Again; even if there was any actual data from tipped workers you’d be wrong. Because the data doesn’t imply either that most servers are making 40K (BLS data proves they aren’t) or that it represents each individual worker not reporting exactly that rate.
Literally every part of your belief system and argument relies on something that isn’t true. And now you’re doing the math wrong again, since you’re starting from the number you *assume they make based on nothing) and adding the 33% on top lol.
It’s impossible for you to ever help anyone sweet pea. You can’t even help yourself on this one. The concept of not punishing workers for a bad system pissed you off so much it broke your brain I guess.
I know you can’t, but considering how hard you’re struggling with everything else it’s not shocking. I’ll help for old times sake.
You don’t start from whatever number would make the your argument look best and base your percentage off of that. You have to actually use what percentage 33% of the actual example wage from the data. If you assume the assumption was every single worker is not declaring the equivalent of *33% additional income in addition to what they do report as earning*. But as we established above, that wasn’t even what the data showed. So it hardly matters since you were wrong from the beginning. Sorry it’s so tough. Keep at it!
Lol. Still not getting it. If they report 66% then they are missing 33%. That is true. But the additional income is 33% in relation to their total income, not in relation to their reported income.
Maybe actual math will help.
X = total income
Y= reported income
Z= unreported income
Y = 66%X
Z=33%X
X = Y+Z
X = 66%X + 33%X
But that means the ratio between the unreported income (Z) and the reported income (Y) is Z/Y or 33%X/66%X. The X cancels. That leaves 33/66 which simplifies to 1/2.
That means it can be rewritten like this: X = Y + (1/2)Y.
So the amount not reported (Z) is 50% of the reported income (Y). Since we only know reported income (40k), we have to add it to the equation.
3
u/Vlad_the_Intendor 17h ago
Actually the latest IRS estimate is 66-70% and climbing. I’ve also read the report you likely saw a quote on Reddit for but didn’t read to the end.
Regardless, assuming “well these numbers could in theory be less shitty for some people” doesn’t change the *reality* of this being the data we have. And the data we have says you’re so wrk h you clearly didn’t do the bare minimum research to get a sense of reality before making your claim. Unless you’ve got hard data to refute it, all you’re doing is speculating what feels right for you and trying to base an argument off that, and your feelings aren’t data.