So, I started to put this in the pissed off thread, but thought more people might want to know this.

Tomorrow is my birthday, so my wife has been on me to pick a place so she could take me. I do most of the cooking, due to our schedules, so she really wanted me to just relax, and enjoy the meal.

We were looking at the high end places, everything from Tom Douglas & John Howie, to Canlis, and Daniel's Broiler.

Yes, I hate Seattle, too, but there aren't too many great restaurants outside of it, so, we were looking....

Anyway, to get to my point....I was reading some reviews of Canlis, and this guy went on a rant, and.....

With the new $15/hr wage, and with many places going to a mandatory tipping policy of 20%, the gratuity is automatically added.

They've done this for years when there were groups of people greater than 6 or 8, BUT......., here's the difference:

They are now listing it as a 'service charge', not a gratuity, AND, you pay tax on it!

Yes, I get it, Seattle sucks, blah-blah-blah...

Yes, I get it, if you can afford an expensive meal, blah-blah-blah...

But in the end, paying a tax on a gratuity is ridiculous. Plus, how much extra will you tip now for exceptional service knowing that?

Many places reviews are discussing how much worse service has gotten in the last year. Makes sense if they no longer have to 'earn' the gratuity.

Soooooo, my res is not in Seattle for tomorrow.

When you go out for a birthday dinner, where do YOU like to go ?

If you can eat at the Canlis, I don't feel sad if you get the tax shaft.

and it all depends on what you want to eat.

Give me a Thai restaurant, and I'm a happy man.

Another option is something kind of unique, such as The Red House in Renton. Interesting facility, good food, fun place for a group dinner.
http://www.redhousebeerandwine.com

Haven't been happy with what they pass off in Seattle as high end food lately.
How about:
Daniels Broiler in Bellevue Square.

Or Tulalip Resort in Marysville.
Several restaurants, seafood buffet on Fri, Sat nights and Sunday Brunch.
Plus they also have entertainment, and you and the wife can get a pretty nice room.

I usually end up leaving $350-$500 ahead after playing the interactive slots.
Take out of town guests there all the time, never a complaint.

Hey genius, it's anywhere the gratuity is automatic & listed as part of the bill.

Your response doesn't surprise me, though.

That's why I wrote "Yes, I get it, if you can afford an expensive meal, blah-blah-blah..."

This "it's okay for government overreach as long as it doesn't affect me" mentality is what's gonna take away your 2nd amendment rights.

Enjoy

I like to eat at the Y...

NWG makes a good point though. Sales taxes used to be just on goods, now it's on goods and services*.

I have to charge sales tax on my work, even though it's only labor I'm providing.

*I've had this discussion with several people I know. One friend is a video editor who works on a travel show. He takes raw footage and edits it into a show. No different than me taking raw materials and turning it into a house, yet he does his work without charging sales tax nor does he have a resellers permit from the people he does this for. He's an independent contractor just like I am, except he doesn't have a license, bond, or insurance like I do.

I do information security consulting and such.
WA DOR explained that if I discuss a hypothetical problem in general there is no sales tax, but if it is for a specific problem I need to charge tax.
So I always charge tax and tell clients that if they can provide me with a letter from DOR saying so, I'll gladly refund their sales tax.

What do we owe the state for this response?

Lots of good places on the eastside. Some of my faves in no particular order:

Jak’s Grill in Issaquah (great steaks)
Wood Block in Redmond (Americanized tapas and an amazing whiskey selection)
Agave in Redmond (great Mexican)
Thai Ginger in Redmond Town Center
Daniel’s Broiler in Bellevue (more expensive and fancier than Jak’s)
Wild Ginger in Bellevue (Thai)



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Herb Farm in Woodinville.


As for paying tax on gratuity, yeah your meal needs to be calculated differently. Basically you have meal price and take 20% of that and that number aside. Figure tax of the meal, add meal and tax, then the 20% gratuity. This way you aren't taxed on the gratuity, which is how it should be. If you have shit service you shouldn't be forced to pay extra. You pay extra because the person went above and beyond and did a great job.

10.4% sales tax. Maybe...........
I'm not going to take the time going through every invoice and figuring out how much of the time spent was repairing or maintaining a network vs. implementing a change, whether any software installs were routine or non routine, etc, etc. If a client wants to do that, fine.
But if DOR has a different opinion about exactly what services were provided, I'm going to have to pay the tax they say is owed.

In 25+ years the only people who ever asked for their tax back were federal agencies and larger businesses who resold my services to their clients.

Check out El Gacho in Tacoma. You wont be disappointed.

This....Fuck Seattle. Hell, i'm even moving out of this Libtard County.

Flat Iron Grill in Issaquah is pretty damn delish, and member Breck works there. Their whisk(e)y selection is also pretty robust.