Hawaii department of taxation has decided to make GE tax on tips a thing.
The TDS in this state has gone terminal.
There’s no way our political establishment can survive much longer without massive electoral fraud.

https://hawaiifreepress.com/Articles-Main/ID/46062/DoTax-Suddenly-Begins-Collecting-GE-Tax-on-Tips

our political elites are elected by the people every single year...

our political elites are elected by the people every single year...

That's the cover story but then they went and introduced the mail fraud system.

They wouldn't make a move like that if they weren't concerned about a populist uprising.

Oh, well.  I guess it just means that when the federal government says
“No tax on tips,” our state comes in and says, “Fine, then give that tax
money to us.”

This pretty much sums up the state's attitude toward the workers.  We are nothing more than tax revenue generators.

There are states that have zero tax on personal income.  They seem to do quite well funding public services and projects:

Alaska,
Florida,
Nevada,
New Hampshire,
South Dakota,
Tennessee,
Texas,
Washington, and
Wyoming.

While these states do not levy income taxes, they may have higher sales or property taxes to fund government services.

HI doesn't have a sales tax, but the GET is often compared to other states' sales tax rates as being lower than most.  In truth, most states don't tax manufacturers, distributors and wholesalers -- only the retailer who collects the tax from the consumer. 

Also, HI taxes everyone paying into the GET system on top of the taxes they collect!  So, if i have to collect 4.5% from a buyer, i now owe the state the 4.5% I collected PLUS 4.5% tax on that 4.5% collected.

GET taxes goods and services at every step of the way to the customer, but it's the customer who ultimately winds up paying the tax for everyone involved as it gets passed along at each step and snowballs with every tax-on-tax increment.  In actuality, HI residents pay about 12%-14% in GET as it all gets passed on to the consumer.

They already raised taxes to pay for the rail.  The increase is supposed to be repealed in 2030.  Senate bill SB492 (passed Feb 2025) extends the surcharge through 2045 to raise another estimated $5B.

Hawaii department of taxation has decided to make GE tax on tips a thing.
The TDS in this state has gone terminal.
There’s no way our political establishment can survive much longer without massive electoral fraud.

https://hawaiifreepress.com/Articles-Main/ID/46062/DoTax-Suddenly-Begins-Collecting-GE-Tax-on-Tips

The thing about trying to inflict Communism in a U.S. state, that the local Khmer Rouge just don’t get, is that we can just leave, as increasing numbers of us are doing.

This will ultimately lead to the collapse of the Communists, but tragically also of the state - unless there is popular rejection of them in time, because as we all know,

- they won’t stop until they are stopped.

“A staggering 70% of respondents say they will- or are unsure if they will – relocate in the coming years. These are the very workers powering Hawai‘i’s economy, now on the brink of leaving their homes behind.”

From 2024:

https://holomuacollective.org/survey/?utm_source=bento&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=broadcast&bento_uuid=d05e87b3-416a-4b13-8625-aba352d3ad92

Survey of 1500 workers, mostly long-term residents.

Also from 2024, 40% plan on leaving:

“Economic strain and stress: The economy (73%), personal finances (73%), and housing costs (64%) rank as the most significant stressors for residents, particularly for households with incomes below $50,000. Among those surveyed, 40% considered moving out of the state in the past year due to high living costs, a rate even higher among Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities (47%).”

https://www.hawaiifreepress.com/Articles-Main/ID/42880/Survey-40-consider-moving-out-of-state

#immadoctor will prescribe treatment for people leaving.

#immadoctor will prescribe treatment for people leaving.

Yes, Der Kommissar will propose the Exit Tax on all those leaving, to pay for their prior impact on the environment.

He will argue that it is for the Keiki and the Kupuna.

Both houses of the Legislature will pass it without debate, made retroactive to the year 2000.

After he signs it, surrounded by grinning meat puppets, he will say “there, fixed that problem.”

So I didn't read the full bill, but the parts I did read are tips under $25K have no tax. Above that, you need to pay tax.

The various Vegas social media groups I'm part of all bash Trump for coming to Circa in Vegas to get votes for no tax on tips.  This was well after he already won.  What they don't realize is Clark County (Vegas), voted for Biden.  So him going to Circa isn't totally just to get votes.  I'm sure some did change their vote from Brandon to Trump, but from what I'm seeing, not many who use social media and are part of that group.

So I didn't read the full bill, but the parts I did read are tips under $25K have no tax. Above that, you need to pay tax.

The tax on tips was not part of a bill, but a recent ATF-style announcement from DoTax that they decided to change their policy.

Apparently they make the laws now.

So I didn't read the full bill, but the parts I did read are tips under $25K have no tax. Above that, you need to pay tax.

The various Vegas social media groups I'm part of all bash Trump for coming to Circa in Vegas to get votes for no tax on tips.  This was well after he already won.  What they don't realize is Clark County (Vegas), voted for Biden.  So him going to Circa isn't totally just to get votes.  I'm sure some did change their vote from Brandon to Trump, but from what I'm seeing, not many who use social media and are part of that group.

Don't forget.  Congress still has midterm elections.  Anything the sitting president does that improves the average worker's situation has the potential to carry over to candidates from his party in the midterms.  It also carries over in 2028 when his successor asks for votes.

The people you mentioned lived under Biden and now Trump for a second time.  If the contrast doesn't get them to switch, and they haven't gotten fed up with wokeness, then there's no hope of them switching anytime soon.

i'm curious how many years it'll take for TDS to no longer drive people insane.  Newscum is already sounding like he's campaigning against Trump, and people in blue states won't figure out Trump's not running until after they've mailed in their ballots.

i'm curious how many years it'll take for TDS to no longer drive people insane.  Newscum is already sounding like he's campaigning against Trump, and people in blue states won't figure out Trump's not running until after they've mailed in their ballots.

If we go by what the KGB says, then it will take a generation to fix.  The power the media has is amazing.

If we go by what the KGB says, then it will take a generation to fix.  The power the media has is amazing.

Yep.  i already predicted Vance will be demonized as Trump V2.0 -- all the negatives off Trump but without all the zeros on his bank statement!

The no tax on tips thing is a mess. Now the feds had to make a list of what jobs allow tips to go without being taxed. Not only is it a big loophole to exploit the government also tells you whether your tips are basically valid or not.

The no tax on tips thing is a mess. Now the feds had to make a list of what jobs allow tips to go without being taxed. Not only is it a big loophole to exploit the government also tells you whether your tips are basically valid or not.

I saw the list, it isn't hard to follow.  What loophole do you speak of?

I think tips should be taxed.  All other salary or hourly wage are taxed, so they shouldn't be exempt.  And it's common for not all cash tips to be reported.  During covid, I know a lot of bartenders/waiters who got little unemployment in Vegas due to not reporting a lot of their cash tips.  Then while working at a bank, we often had the same type of people asking for 2 years of bank statements cause the IRS was auditing them and they often stated that they didn't report much of their tips.

I saw the list, it isn't hard to follow.  What loophole do you speak of?

I think tips should be taxed.  All other salary or hourly wage are taxed, so they shouldn't be exempt.  And it's common for not all cash tips to be reported.  During covid, I know a lot of bartenders/waiters who got little unemployment in Vegas due to not reporting a lot of their cash tips.  Then while working at a bank, we often had the same type of people asking for 2 years of bank statements cause the IRS was auditing them and they often stated that they didn't report much of their tips.

Aw, taxing tips is highly regressive, perhaps today more than ever, as the job market for recent grads is awful, even in computer sciences.

Then again, of course this is coming from a government that strangles us with a grotesquely pyramiding excise tax all day, every day, on everything we have to buy to survive - so of course time to go after what little their grandkids can make while they look for a job, any job.

Hawaii is truly a place where if you can’t get your head above water income-wise, the place will find a way to shove you down - and they ceaselessly raise the bar on what it takes to be above that line.

But in the end they will pay - for example the Hawaii ERS has unfunded liabilities of approx. $14 Billion and is only about 61% funded - how will they pay all these government pensions, as they systematically exterminate the state economy?  Not to mention rail, etc. etc. etc….

They can’t and they won’t.

The no tax on tips thing is a mess. Now the feds had to make a list of what jobs allow tips to go without being taxed. Not only is it a big loophole to exploit the government also tells you whether your tips are basically valid or not.

The IRS didn't start requiring business owners to report tip for their employees until around 1980.  Even then, unless a worker keeps a running record of all the tips they receive, the businesses report the wrong amounts and there is little the worker can do besides pay the taxes, interest and penalties owed on tips they might not be taking home.

My ex got caught up in it.  The first year  her employer reported her "estimated tips" to the IRS, it was based on a percentage of receipts assigned to her wait stations and according to her hours worked.  At the start, the IRS sent a letter saying she owed about $400 in taxes on tips plus penalty and interest.  We were filing jointly.  The IRS told us to wait -- they will send us a bill for the amount owed.  It took the IRS almost a year to send the bill, claiming they were waiting to provide her an opportunity to contest it if she kept records.  Of course there were no records, because she was never informed the business was sending tip info to the  feds until she received her W-2 after that tax year ended.  in the year they took to send us a bill, the amount went from about $400 to over $875.  I found out interest is calculated on a daily rate and applied to the entire outstanding balance.  The penalty was more reasonable, but not when you combine the two.

So, it you want to talk "mess," taxing tips in the first place was a big one.  How many tipped employees now keep records that fudge the numbers lower than actual to avoid taxes?  I've known servers who only include tips written on credit card receipts.  Cash goes straight into their pocket with no record.

Cash tips are on the honor system unless the business requires they be placed in a community jar and divided among the wait staff -- sometimes the cooks, too.  If the tip is left after the check is paid, the business probably never knows the amount left or if any tip was left at all.

The process of tipping is itself messy.  The IRS rules are also messy.  The best way to avoid these inherent messes is to not tax any tips at all.  When you consider the fact that tips are considered gifts for the employees with the amount (usually) determined by the giver, and that the IRS excludes gifts for taxation up to $19K per donor, there's no reason to tax them.  So, if you happen to get a $100 tip from all your customers, and the total was $300K, there would be no tax since the gifts were from various tippers.  Also, if anyone owes tax on a gift, it's the donor who may be trying to reducing their tax liability by gifting cash to relatives.  If it's $19K or less, the recipient owes no tax on it.

The IRS is nothing if not a mess.

Hawaii is truly a place where if you can’t get your head above water income-wise, the place will find a way to shove you down - and they ceaselessly raise the bar on what it takes to be above that line.

It's interesting that I made a lot of friends from the mainland who moved here.  Only to move back home or to another state after about 5 years on average.  They realized once the beach and weather wore off, it's too expensive to live here.  They know what it cost elsewhere to live and choose that over going to the beach all the time.

I saw the list, it isn't hard to follow.  What loophole do you speak of?

I think tips should be taxed.  All other salary or hourly wage are taxed, so they shouldn't be exempt.  And it's common for not all cash tips to be reported.  During covid, I know a lot of bartenders/waiters who got little unemployment in Vegas due to not reporting a lot of their cash tips.  Then while working at a bank, we often had the same type of people asking for 2 years of bank statements cause the IRS was auditing them and they often stated that they didn't report much of their tips.

I worked for Pizza Hut in high school. A delivery driver told me how he didn't put delivery driver on his work title but something generic so that he avoided issues with tax on tips. People always try to figure out how to game the system when you make tax rules on what does and doesn't count in finances. The clever or the dishonest (depending on how you look at it) can find ways of labeling their professions in one of the 63 approved jobs. (Digital Content Creator was one.... how hard would that be to justify these days?) On top of that I think employers may find ways of lowering the wages of their workers, and therefore the amount of taxes they have to pay, and having more of their pay classified as tips. The honest will end up paying more than the clever/dishonest.

Overall I think income is income is income and should all be treated/taxed the same way whether a tip, a bonus, investment, etc. I also don't like the whole tipping culture we have in America either. Who we tip and how much is so arbitrary. I love going to Japan where I don't have to think about tips and the workers often do their jobs better as part of a good work ethic without having to need extra incentive. But that's a separate issue.

I worked for Pizza Hut in high school. A delivery driver told me how he didn't put delivery driver on his work title but something generic so that he avoided issues with tax on tips. People always try to figure out how to game the system when you make tax rules on what does and doesn't count in finances. The clever or the dishonest (depending on how you look at it) can find ways of labeling their professions in one of the 63 approved jobs. (Digital Content Creator was one.... how hard would that be to justify these days?) On top of that I think employers may find ways of lowering the wages of their workers, and therefore the amount of taxes they have to pay, and having more of their pay classified as tips. The honest will end up paying more than the clever/dishonest.

Overall I think income is income is income and should all be treated/taxed the same way whether a tip, a bonus, investment, etc. I also don't like the whole tipping culture we have in America either. Who we tip and how much is so arbitrary. I love going to Japan where I don't have to think about tips and the workers often do their jobs better as part of a good work ethic without having to need extra incentive. But that's a separate issue.

it's difficult to disguise yourself as a non-tipped employee when delivery drivers (your example) receive the majority of tips tacked onto the check they paid with a credit card.  All anyone needs to force an audit is half a dozen delivery receipts that show you were tipped and the store had to pay that amount to you out of credit card disbursements to them.

I worked for Pizza Hut in high school. A delivery driver told me how he didn't put delivery driver on his work title but something generic so that he avoided issues with tax on tips. People always try to figure out how to game the system when you make tax rules on what does and doesn't count in finances. The clever or the dishonest (depending on how you look at it) can find ways of labeling their professions in one of the 63 approved jobs. (Digital Content Creator was one.... how hard would that be to justify these days?) On top of that I think employers may find ways of lowering the wages of their workers, and therefore the amount of taxes they have to pay, and having more of their pay classified as tips. The honest will end up paying more than the clever/dishonest.

Overall I think income is income is income and should all be treated/taxed the same way whether a tip, a bonus, investment, etc. I also don't like the whole tipping culture we have in America either. Who we tip and how much is so arbitrary. I love going to Japan where I don't have to think about tips and the workers often do their jobs better as part of a good work ethic without having to need extra incentive. But that's a separate issue.

People breaking the law isn't a "loophole".  Try again.