Originally Posted by
Visconti
I think I will lower my general tips to 10%, which is still around 15% - 16% when you consider the healthcare tax. No problem, they add more taxes, I will keep lowering it until the point where I'm no longer welcomed; then, I'll just go somewhere else. If I wanted to get value for my tip, I'd go to Vegas, not waste it in a city like SF.
I think this is too broad. Assuming a restaurant is following the law, there can be valid taxes that the restaurant just passes through.
I don't know California law, but in some parts of the country I've started to see this "healthcare surcharge" levied because the restaurant is required to provide health care to employees, not to pay a tax. So either the surcharge is being used to pay for healthcare or used to pay the penalty for not (which I believe was removed from the federal ACA law, but States may be different). Healthcare is a business expense. You can negotiate rates, you can have employees pay for a portion, etc. Lots of ways you meet the requirements at different costs. But it's not my responsibility to pay for healthcare as directly as a surcharge appears to do.
But it makes sense to itemize sales tax from an accounting standpoint, because it's a pass through. And I don't recall ever seeing a sign or menu stating that all items are subject 10% sales tax.