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D.C. mayor proposes repealing tipped-wage increases to save city’s restaurant scene
The Washington Times ^ | Monday, May 5, 2025 | Matt Delaney

Posted on 05/05/2025 5:09:49 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser proposed Monday a repeal of the District’s new minimum wage law for tipped workers, which she said is suffocating the city’s restaurant industry.

However, city-council leaders suggested the measure may not have the backing of the legislative body.

Ms. Bowser said her fiscal 2026 budget proposal includes returning to the prior system and the one used in most of the U.S., in which waiters, bartenders and similar professions that historically have relied mostly on tips have a separate and much lower minimum wage.

She said this would lower costs for the District’s restaurateurs and strengthen a pillar of the city’s financial portfolio.

“We are a hospitality-based economy,” Ms. Bowser, a Democrat, said at a press event Monday on H Street Northeast. “Following the federal government, it’s the hospitality sector that allows people to buy homes, to put their kids through college, to live here and afford to live here. And if restaurants close, there are no jobs.”

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...


TOPICS: US: District of Columbia
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1 posted on 05/05/2025 5:09:49 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
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To: MinorityRepublican

“[Washington DC is] a hospitality-based economy”

That’s the funniest thing I’ve read today. Is “hospitality” today’s euphemism for graft, fraud, corruption, sleaze, and back stabbing?


2 posted on 05/05/2025 5:14:18 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom (“Diversity is our Strength” just doesn’t carry the same message as “Death from Above”)
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To: MinorityRepublican

Democrats are lousy tippers.


3 posted on 05/05/2025 5:21:59 PM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

That DC is a “hospitality-based economy” is the funniest thing I’ve read today.
Is “hospitality” today’s euphemism for graft, fraud, corruption, sleaze, and back stabbing?


Hah....good one.


4 posted on 05/05/2025 5:23:40 PM PDT by Liz (This then is how we should pray...."Our Father, who art in heaven......" )
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To: Billthedrill

Worked through college in a somewhat high-end hotel restaurant. Worst tippers were when democrat-voting organizations were in town.


5 posted on 05/05/2025 5:24:00 PM PDT by P.O.E. (Pray for America.)
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To: MinorityRepublican

More Bow-wow from Bowser.


6 posted on 05/05/2025 5:27:52 PM PDT by lightman (Beat the Philly fraud machine the Amish did onest, ja? Nein, zweimal they did already!)
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To: Billthedrill

Three decades GOP...my minimum tip is $5.00; but if the server didn’t earn it; it is reduced to $1.00 and the next worthy server gets at least $10.00.

Tips are NOT an entitlement.


7 posted on 05/05/2025 5:29:43 PM PDT by lightman (Beat the Philly fraud machine the Amish did onest, ja? Nein, zweimal they did already!)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

> Is “hospitality” today’s euphemism for graft, fraud, corruption, sleaze, and back stabbing? <

Don’t forget violent street crime. You’ve got stone-cold criminals in the Capital building. And you’ve got stone-cold criminals in the streets around it.


8 posted on 05/05/2025 5:31:18 PM PDT by Leaning Right (It’s morning in America. Again.)
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To: MinorityRepublican

How can she do that? I thought we’re supposed to be liberal.

And being liberal means ongoing increases in the minimum wage.

She wants to repeal an increase in the minimum wage? How can she do that and still be a good Democrat?


9 posted on 05/05/2025 5:47:04 PM PDT by Dilbert San Diego
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To: Billthedrill

Democrats are lousy tippers.


Many of them are “Canadians”.


10 posted on 05/05/2025 5:48:42 PM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

WHATEVER STORY SHE CAN DREAM UP& MAKE IT FLOAT....


11 posted on 05/05/2025 5:56:23 PM PDT by ridesthemiles (not giving up on TRUMP---EVER)
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To: lightman

I grew up there and miss Marion - at least he was honest in his corruption.


12 posted on 05/05/2025 6:03:44 PM PDT by posterchild
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To: MinorityRepublican

I am fully on the side of the wait staff in this one. NOBODY should rely on the kindness of strangers for their livelihood.

Tips are (or should be) a BONUS for exemplary service, and if the employer cannot pay a wage that the staff can live on, then that employer SHOULD be shut down.

If you are going to force a minimum wage on employers, it should apply to ALL, not just non-restaurant folks.

The Euroweenies and THE REST OF THE ENTIRE WORLD are absolutely dead right on this. We in North America are still using a modified type of indentured servitude in this matter.


13 posted on 05/05/2025 6:12:49 PM PDT by Don W (When blacks riot, neighborhoods and cities burn. When whites riot, nations and continents burn)
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To: Don W

As Mr. Pink said:

“I’m very sorry the government taxes their tips, that’s f_____ up. That ain’t my fault. It would seem to me that waitresses are one of the many groups the government f____ in the ___ on a regular basis.”


14 posted on 05/05/2025 6:15:11 PM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: posterchild

and the bitch set him up.....


15 posted on 05/05/2025 6:18:58 PM PDT by bigdaddy45
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To: Don W

“Indentured servitude?” No one is forcing wait staff to have those jobs. And good ones make great money. I had a daughter who made an average of $25 an hour in college working at some greasy spoon diner. Because she was good at her job.


16 posted on 05/05/2025 6:21:34 PM PDT by bigdaddy45
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To: bigdaddy45

Push flirt and dessert.

Anticipate the partons’ needs.

Don’t make them wait long to return the change.

This isn’t rocket science.


17 posted on 05/05/2025 6:26:49 PM PDT by lightman (Beat the Philly fraud machine the Amish did onest, ja? Nein, zweimal they did already!)
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To: MinorityRepublican

That should put a few restaurants under leaving more for the survivors, Yea! Oh yeah, about those soon to be unemployed servers, thanks for taking one for team Bowser.


18 posted on 05/05/2025 6:30:18 PM PDT by VTenigma (Conspiracy theory is the new "spoiler alert")
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To: P.O.E.

You’re lucky you didn’t live near the Canadian border. The Canadians do not tip at all even when they have 8 or 10 in their party.


19 posted on 05/05/2025 6:34:35 PM PDT by ladyjane
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To: MinorityRepublican

When I was 18 years old I had a job at a fast-food restaurant where I was paid much less than the going minimum wage, but with tips it came up to the minimum wage or close (even though most customers did not tip).


20 posted on 05/05/2025 6:35:40 PM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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