(Image: Robert Kneschke / Alamy)
Seattle’s tip credit is set to expire at the end of the year, when all businesses will be required to pay employees at least $19.97 an hour. The current tip credit allows employers to pay $17.25 an hour if the employee makes at least $2.72 an hour in tips.
Restaurant owners are worried the twenty percent wage hike will squeeze already tight margins.
I understand this and call for keeping the tip credit.
A restaurant is a product of imagination. Ideas with recipes, themes and décor can compel a person to start an eating establishment.
There is the dream — then there is the reality. Running a restaurant is hard work. Owner / operators soon realize they’ve become businesspeople. The cold numbers of a spreadsheet can turn dreams into real worry.
Most new restaurants don’t make it past the first year of operation.
Prices are climbing all over. Seattle is an expensive place to live. I support people earning a living wage. Servers work for their tips by seeking to please customers. This hard-earned money can pay a server a lot more than the minimum wage.
Restaurant owners — including independent establishments — are concerned the coming twenty percent hike in wage payments will hurt already squeezed margins. They want to keep the tip credit.
This is a City of Seattle issue. I am speaking out as a state house candidate to demonstrate my values and style of politics. This provides a clear contrast with my opponent Shaun Scott. His radical faction is literally shouting their support for the elimination of the tip credit — resulting in the bill for its continuation currently stalling in City Hall.
Firebrand politics seem to be winning at the moment. Small business restaurants are dreading the coming New Year. Shaun Scott is insensitive to the real concerns of hard-working small business owners, and plans on bringing this attitude to Olympia. Scott’s policy proposals include increasing the state Business and Occupation (B&O) tax.
Shaun Scott’s Position:
- January 1, 2025, business owners pay the twenty percent wage increase.
- As a result, profit margins shrink. Restaurant business owners, some operating in the red, still pay a higher tax on gross receipts.
My Position:
- I urge the Seattle City Council to extend the tip credit.
- I oppose an increase to the State B&O tax.
- Tip your server well!
The tip credit is the obvious solution to provide economic relief to Seattle’s restaurant owners and operators. The credit also protects job opportunities while providing compensation higher than the minimum wage for hard working staff.
Thank you for visiting my site.
I ask for your vote on November 5th. – Andrea