Douglas_Knight comments on Rebasing Ethics - Less Wrong

-9 Post author: Shalmanese 15 December 2009 01:56PM

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Comment author: Douglas_Knight 15 December 2009 05:49:47PM 4 points [-]

the tip is technically a gift

What do you mean by "technically"? What authority gets to impose precise definitions? The IRS doesn't consider it a gift.

Comment author: Alicorn 15 December 2009 07:35:47PM 0 points [-]

It's legally a gift in that they can't compel you to tip (unless they call it a service charge and include it in the bill). It's also, legally, income, but so is any gift as long as it's of a size the IRS gets interested in.

Comment author: Jonathan_Graehl 15 December 2009 10:33:56PM 1 point [-]

My understanding is that the giver of a gift pays taxes to the IRS, but the recipient doesn't (with many qualifiers (at most $10k/year to family?) that I don't recommend we research or discuss, because it's boring and irrelevant).