The practice of adding to per cent. to hotel bills
instead of tips has never become as general in this country as on the Continent, but there seems to be good reason now why it should be made not only general but compulsory. Hotel employees, waiters and the rest, have to pay income-tax on the Pay-As-You-Earn system. But what do waiters, for example, earn? It is matter of common knowledge that their income depends mainly on tips. But how is that to he checked? In ordinary cases an employer—who has to make the returns knows exactly what his .men earn because he pays them. An hotel manager has no such knowledge. The to per cent. system obviates the difficulty, and it is difficult to see what else can. The Trust Houses have uniformily adopted the fro per cent. and con- sequently find no difficulty about the P.A.Y.E. system, for the hotel manager knows exactly what is allotted to each employee out of the to per cent. addition to bills (though not what some guests insist on giving over and above the to per cent.). This is obviously a matter which interests the Treasury considerably.
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