No one EVER has to pay taxes on presumed tips as income. What servers complain about is not being able to hide as much income as they would like or what they used to be able to. The IRS From 4070A is for tracking of all tips and tip-outs to supporting staff. irs.gov/pub/irs-prior/f4070a--2005.pdf

I was in this business from roughly 1990 to 2005 and there were a lot of changes during that time. For years 8% was just an amount you could claim and the government was okay with that. Of course, the actual % is/was way more than that. Once credit cards came along, a "house average" was able to be computed (IRS assumed servers were roughly making the same % on their cash sales as their CC sales). Just to be clear, like everything with taxes and the IRS, your own records (on form 4070A) will be enough to substantiate your actual income. What happens in an audit if your self-reported average % is 6% and the house average is 16%? I guess you can try to sell the IRS on the fact that you're just a terrible server but I can't promise that will work out for you.

In the end, sorry servers but you have to pay taxes on your income like the rest of us. And please stop playing the, "I'm paying taxes on money I don't earn," card. It's just not true and it never has been. You can't hide income when it's convenient and then claim you're being over-taxed at other times.