Originally Posted by
hwmorth
In another matter, I am never sure in the US (I moved here recently) if I am supposed to tip based on the pre-tax or post-tax amount. Also, at one restaurant, they added the tip automatically and then put tax on it - is that legal?
Tradition says that the percentage tip should be based on the pre-tax amount. People are free to base on the post-tax amount, of course.
Here is an example of a tipping card published by tipping.org - note the words at the bottom of the second side of the card:
http://www.tipping.org/tipcardslarge.html