EP 477: Here's a tip

Today's episode is about tips. As in gratuity. Wait, wait, wait! Where are you going?

I know, you probably don't receive tips for your work. Maybe you don't live in the US, and you're thinking, 'What is this American BS about tips?'

Well, when I first heard about Trump's (and then Harris's) proposal to eliminate federal taxes of tipped income, my brain went a hundred different places: how many people would it impact, how much savings are we talking about, what will this do to the proliferation of tipped work, and how much could this accelerate re-proletarianization?! You probably weren't expecting that last one. 

Here's the thing: tipping is a class issue. Which means it's also a social justice issue. And it's also an issue that intersects with frustrations with the way all of us work. To find out how, you've got to trust me—and listen.

Footnotes:

• Information on the federal tipped minimum wage
• 'Tip baiting' Instacart drivers via CNN
• "The Economic Logic Behind the 'No Tax on Tips' Policy" by Jadrian Wooten
• Tipping: An American Social History of Gratuities by Kerry Segrave
• "'It's the Legacy of Slavery': Here's the Troubling History Behind Tipping Practices in the U.S." via Time
• "Tipping is a racist relic and a modern tool of economic oppression in the South" via the Economic Policy Institute
• "Errand Runners of Digital Platform Capitalism" by İsa Demir
• "Defending Hierarchy: The Conservative Impulse" by Matthew McManus
• The Society of the Spectacle by Guy Debord
• "The problem is proletarianization, not capitalism" by Solange Manche (about Bernard Steigler)
• Capitalism is Dead: Is This Something Worse? by McKenzie Wark
• "The Practical Utopian's Guide to the Coming Collapse" by David Graeber

Find essay versions of every new episode at whatworks.fyi!

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What is What Works?

Work is central to the human experience. It helps us shape our identities, care for those we love, and contribute to our communities. Work can be a source of power and a catalyst for change. Unfortunately, that's not how most of us experience work—even those who work for themselves. Our labor and creative spirit are used to enrich others and maintain the status quo. It's time for an intervention. What Works is a show about rethinking work, business, and leadership for the 21st-century economy. Host Tara McMullin covers money, management, culture, media, philosophy, and more to figure out what's working (and what's not) today. Tara offers a distinctly interdisciplinary approach to deep-dive analysis of how we work and how work shapes us.