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2024-08-17 Home Front: Politix
Even The Washington Post Destroyed Kamala's ‘Price Controls' Plan
[PJ] After weeks of running the most nonsubstantive campaign, completely devoid of interviews, press conferences, and policy proposals—but loaded with flip-flops—Kamala Harris has finally started to reveal some policies to the American people. It’s not going well.

The first policy she dropped was Donald Trump’s "No Tax on Tips" plan, and even the media couldn’t ignore the fact she’d plagiarized that idea from him. Her latest attempt to come up with something original hasn’t gone much better. In fact, it’s already starting to look like a train wreck, and she hasn’t even officially unveiled it yet.

The proposal, of course, is Soviet-style price controls branded as a federal ban on price-gouging. The proposal tries to kill two birds with one stone by simultaneously deflecting blame for inflation onto corporate greed—rather than the economic policies of the Biden-Harris administration—and convincing the public that she has the solution to fix it.

But the proposal is so horrifying bad, that Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell absolutely destroyed it in a column Thursday evening.

Rampell, a liberal, pulls no punches in her piece. She asserts that it is "hard to exaggerate how bad Kamala Harris’s price-gouging proposal is."

"The most likely template for Harris’s proposal is a recent bill from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). (Harris co-sponsored similar legislation with Warren in 2020, when Harris was a senator.)," Rampell writes. "Warren’s bill would ban any 'grossly excessive price' during any 'atypical disruption' of a market."
Posted by Besoeker 2024-08-17 05:38|| || Front Page|| [11149 views ]  Top

#1 The entire economy must be destroyed. Only then can we....."Build it back better."

Then suddenly you discover they own the entire farm, factory, business, etc. It's not about the economy, it's about POWER !

It's what the communists do. But you knew that.
Posted by Besoeker 2024-08-17 05:45||   2024-08-17 05:45|| Front Page Top

#2 No tax on tips is actually a bad idea.
Posted by European Conservative 2024-08-17 08:22||   2024-08-17 08:22|| Front Page Top

#3 No tax on tips is a fantastic idea.
Posted by DooDahMan 2024-08-17 11:08||   2024-08-17 11:08|| Front Page Top

#4 No it isn't. Tips are income. This just gives restaurants an excuse to pay waiters almost nothing and let the customers pay for the service.

The cook and the dishwasher get the minimum wage and pay full taxes on all income.
Posted by European Conservative 2024-08-17 11:12||   2024-08-17 11:12|| Front Page Top

#5 What I read on Quora:

"Federal law in the United States establishes a minimum hourly wage of $7.25 an hour for workers who are covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Most individual states have adopted minimum wages that are higher than the federal minimum wage.

Food servers in the US who work in sit-down restaurants earn the bulk of their income through customer tips. They are covered by the FLSA and must be paid a total of at least $7.25 an hour. But the FLSA allows restaurants to take customer tips into consideration when it sets cash wages for these employees. As long as the server earns enough cash + tips to make at least minimum wage, the restaurant can pay the server as little as $2.13 an hour."
Posted by European Conservative 2024-08-17 11:18||   2024-08-17 11:18|| Front Page Top

#6 Any tax collection scheme where costs of enforcement exceed the sums collection is bad. And I haven't mentioned external diseconomies yet.
Posted by Grom the Reflective 2024-08-17 11:22||   2024-08-17 11:22|| Front Page Top

#7 In Germany, tips are usually not taxed. Not that this is the law, tips are just ignored because they are mostly paid in cash.

From my experience in the U.S., customers usually add tips to their bill and pay everything by card. I don't see how enforcement should be more difficult and costly than other income.

It's about fairness. A good waiter/waitress will make most of his/her money with tips, but will pay almost no taxes on that income, while other people working in the same restaurant will pay full taxes.

Btw I read up a bit on price controls in the U.S. Many states (also Republican run) have price gouging laws in place.
Posted by European Conservative 2024-08-17 12:01||   2024-08-17 12:01|| Front Page Top

#8 There is something 'strange' about minimum wage in the US. It's has tiers. Certain jobs get a lower minimum wage depending on occupational descriptions. Depending on the state, agricultural workers and people like waiters in the food industry get a lower rate. The old assumption still in play is that the workers get their meals comped by the employer. Thus, their 'living' costs are lower.
Posted by Procopius2k 2024-08-17 12:36||   2024-08-17 12:36|| Front Page Top

#9 If you want to have minimum wages, $7,25 is a joke these days. The German minimum wage comes to $13.60 (€12.45).
Posted by European Conservative 2024-08-17 13:04||   2024-08-17 13:04|| Front Page Top

#10 A tip is not a payment. It is a gratuity, a reward or gift. Should have never been taxed.
Posted by Besoeker 2024-08-17 13:04||   2024-08-17 13:04|| Front Page Top

#11 #5 - that's nonsense. Minimum Wage is an established wage per hour, not reduced by tips. If you suck as a server, you don't get tips
Posted by Frank G 2024-08-17 13:04||   2024-08-17 13:04|| Front Page Top

#12 So is this wrong?

"But the FLSA allows restaurants to take customer tips into consideration when it sets cash wages for these employees."
Posted by European Conservative 2024-08-17 13:21||   2024-08-17 13:21|| Front Page Top

#13 Seems like the Libertarians find it a bad idea also:

"Alex Muresianu, a senior policy analyst at The Tax Foundation, spells out in detail why that's the case. He compares two hypothetical low-income service sector workers: a cashier and a waitress, both of whom earn $34,000 annually. Under the current tax code, both have the same baseline tax liability (roughly $2,000) even though about half of the waitress's earnings are via tips.

If those tips are exempted from income taxes, the cashier still owes that $2,000. The waitress, meanwhile, owes just $600.

Harris should have to explain why she thinks it's fair to ask some low-income workers to pay tax bills that will be two or three times higher than other workers who earn the same amount—because that's what she is proposing here. More generally, Muresianu's example is a nice reminder of why the government should pursue broad tax bases with low rates and few special exemptions, and why the tax code should treat all earnings equally."
Posted by European Conservative 2024-08-17 13:31||   2024-08-17 13:31|| Front Page Top

#14 #12 - Not in most, if not all, states
Posted by Frank G 2024-08-17 13:44||   2024-08-17 13:44|| Front Page Top

#15 What seems to be a simple problem does not seem to have a simple answer. That's why we depend on our betters to tell us what's best! /sarc
Posted by Bobby 2024-08-17 14:10||   2024-08-17 14:10|| Front Page Top

#16 The minimum wage is always $0.00

As with all economic principals Dems have no clue.
Posted by alanc 2024-08-17 14:15||   2024-08-17 14:15|| Front Page Top

#17 US Department of Labor says this:


Tipped Employees

Tipped employees are individuals engaged in occupations in which they customarily and regularly receive more than $30 a month in tips. The employer may consider tips as part of wages, but the employer must pay at least $2.13 an hour in direct wages.

"The employer who elects to use the tip credit provision must inform the employee in advance and must be able to show that the employee receives at least the applicable minimum wage (see above) when direct wages and the tip credit allowance are combined. If an employee’s tips combined with the employer’s direct wages of at least $2.13 an hour do not equal the minimum hourly wage, the employer must make up the difference. Also, employees must retain all of their tips, except to the extent that they participate in a valid tip pooling or sharing arrangement."
Posted by European Conservative 2024-08-17 14:50||   2024-08-17 14:50|| Front Page Top

#18 EC, the individual States actually have their own Labor Wage and Hour divisions of government. They set the minimum wage rules and definitions for each classification within their state, with the US Department of Labor standards as a baseline minimum.

The only time where the Federal Standards are 100% in effect is with specifically Federal properties and projects within that state (including US Military Bases and Native American territories). In those cases, that individual State's Labor laws are not enforceable, even if more advantageous for the worker.
Posted by Mullah Richard 2024-08-17 15:14||   2024-08-17 15:14|| Front Page Top

#19 I did check that, too, and came up with this list:

So only 7 out of the 50 U.S. states require employers to pay tipped employees full state minimum wage before tips.

State minimum wages vary, as does the relation between minimum wage and tips. States which don't have their own minimum wages (at least 14 out of 50) have to follow the federal rule.

So Frank G, in many, if not most states, tips may reduce the wage the employer is obliged to pay.

A lousy waiter will of course receive the minimum wage.

Example:
Betty in Texas is a great waiter. She receives $15 per hour in tips. Minimum wage in Texas is the federal one. So her employer, who would be required to pay Betty at least $7.25, can reduce the wage he pays her by $5.12, paying her only $2.13 per hour. Betty will therefore make $17,12 per hour, not $22,25. Her employer saves money and Betty only needs to pay taxes on $2.13 per hour.

John in Texas is a lousy waiter. He only makes 1$ with tips per hour. His employer will have to pay him at least $6.45 per hour so John gets the minimum wage, but John will pay taxes on $6.45 per hour.

Alberto is a cashier in Texas. He makes the minimum wage (no tips) of $7.45 per hour and pays taxes on that amount.

Sounds fair to you? And if you consider tips as a gift, why can an employer reduce the wage HE pays because his employee receives "gifts"?
Posted by European Conservative 2024-08-17 15:49||   2024-08-17 15:49|| Front Page Top

#20 each of your sad-sack stories will pay near-zero actual taxes due to their low income. Keep trying.
Posted by Frank G 2024-08-17 18:07||   2024-08-17 18:07|| Front Page Top

#21 Cause there are customers like myself who ask for specific a waitress who has demonstrated that they are efficient, cheerful, knowledgeable, attentive. It makes me (and my weekly gaggle of old geezers) repeat customers. And yes I tip very well. We've changed luncheon venues before after bad or mundane service. Good managers don't short good workers cause it can be hard to find good help which ultimately effects the bottom line.
Posted by Procopius2k 2024-08-17 18:07||   2024-08-17 18:07|| Front Page Top

#22 #20
"Not in most, if not all, states"

And that's actually not true. Now, if you want to see tips as a personal gift you're under no obligation to give, then not taxing it may be warranted (that's how you do it in Germany). But tips must not reduce the wage the employer pays, and they can't be "pooled" either. If they are, they are taxed (in Germany).

Btw I'm a generous tipper, too. But in America, tipping is optional in name only. Legally it’s voluntary but if you slink out of a restaurant without leaving a gratuity of between 20 and 25 per cent, you’re likely to be chased by a waiter demanding to know why.
Posted by European Conservative 2024-08-17 18:34||   2024-08-17 18:34|| Front Page Top

#23 Over 75% of Americans say tipping culture has gone too far: study
Posted by European Conservative 2024-08-17 18:38||   2024-08-17 18:38|| Front Page Top

#24 I do enjoy a non-citizen tell me how Americans react especially since you visit "locals" in blue cities, no? When I was 16, I made minimum wage in So Cal. If they took money out for tips, even back then, I could have sued them.

The minimum salary level to even INCUR taxes is low. Something state by state and Fed rates. Look it up, you have the time...
Posted by Frank G 2024-08-17 18:41||   2024-08-17 18:41|| Front Page Top

#25 I know, I patronize bartenders
Posted by Frank G 2024-08-17 18:42||   2024-08-17 18:42|| Front Page Top

#26 I have lived and run a business in the United States. Employed more than 30 people there.
Posted by European Conservative 2024-08-17 18:52||   2024-08-17 18:52|| Front Page Top

#27 Tip-based? I thought not. Good night
Posted by Frank G 2024-08-17 18:59||   2024-08-17 18:59|| Front Page Top

#28 And good luck.
Posted by European Conservative 2024-08-17 19:10||   2024-08-17 19:10|| Front Page Top

#29 Pay with a card, tip with cash.
Posted by Skidmark 2024-08-17 19:28||   2024-08-17 19:28|| Front Page Top

#30 ^ Yep
Posted by Frank G 2024-08-17 19:37||   2024-08-17 19:37|| Front Page Top

#31 Yes, plus:
Do not put a $0.00 in the tip line leave it blank; look like someone unaccustomed to tipping.

Then, cash tip in smaller bills, act like you are dodging cameras because you are. A $20 tip in $5s allows server to distribute among other workers, like the dish washers.

I hustled, hustled, clearing tables for those servers who shared cash tips.
Posted by swksvolFF 2024-08-17 19:54||   2024-08-17 19:54|| Front Page Top

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