These Scrooges refuse to act on a hot tip.<\/p>\n
Gov. Kathy Hochul and Democratic New York lawmakers haven\u2019t extended President Trump\u2019s \u201cno tax on tips\u201d policy<\/a> to state income taxes \u2014 hitting bartenders and restaurant workers in the pocketbook all while preaching affordability.<\/p>\n The inaction galled Rion Gallagher, 30, a bartender at The Blasket, an Irish pub in Midtown, on Friday.<\/p>\n \u201cScrew her,\u201d Gallagher said about Hochul.<\/p>\n Zoe Kalodimos, 30, a waitress at Embassy Diner in Bethpage, says it\u2019s \u201cdisgraceful\u201d that Hochul hasn\u2019t extended President Trump\u2019s \u201cno tax on tips\u201d policy. Dennis A. Clark<\/p>\n \u201cIf we weren\u2019t taxed on our tips, we\u2019d be able to save more, we\u2019d enjoy life a little more, maybe we wouldn\u2019t have to pick up that extra shift.\u201d<\/p>\n The \u201cno tax on tips\u201d policy, along with a related deduction for overtime, was a key worker-friendly provision of Trump\u2019s \u201cOne Big Beautiful Bill\u201d narrowly passed by Republicans this year.<\/p>\n Treasury Department officials extended the federal tax break for nearly 70 jobs and professions<\/a>, from taxi drivers to golf caddies (but not pornographic OnlyFans creators<\/a>) \u2014 but the obvious beneficiaries were food and beverage service workers often dependent on tips.<\/p>\n Qualified service workers can now deduct up to $12,500 of tip income a year on their federal taxes, while hourly workers can do the same for $12,500 of overtime pay. The break jumps to $25,000 in both cases if filing as a married couple, and is effective for tax years 2025-28.<\/p>\n But while many states either proactively or automatically matched the cuts, several others held out against extending the deduction, including New York \u2014 to the dismay of service industry workers.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s disgraceful. People live off of tips,\u201d said Zoe Kalodimos, 30, a waitress at Embassy Diner in Bethpage, Long Island, who said she helps out at home as the eldest of five siblings.<\/p>\n \u201cFor [Hochul] to do that is just, it\u2019s disheartening. It\u2019s upsetting,\u201d said Kalodimos, who takes home $3 on an $8 gratuity.<\/p>\n Kalodimos said she loses roughly $1,000 a month on taxes from tips \u2014 which she told The Post are hard-earned for going above and beyond while serving \u201chundreds\u201d of customers per shift.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s like losing money. So it\u2019s hard, especially when everything\u2019s so expensive in life right now. That\u2019s my livelihood, that\u2019s how I eat and feed my family.\u201d<\/p>\n Hannah Teal, 33, a bartender at George and Jack\u2019s Tap Room in Williamsburg, said she only brought home $40,000 after taxes last year. Kevin C Downs forThe New York Post<\/p>\n Jackie Puttre, a manager at P. McDaid\u2019s Irish Pub in Midtown for a couple of years and a server for 37, also had some choice words for state lawmakers.<\/p>\n \u201cTheir hands are in everything and finally they\u2019re doing some good and they passed the bill and now the state comes and screws you. It\u2019s like, what are we doing? Just leave it to Kathy Hochul to do that,\u201d said Puttre, a Trump supporter.<\/p>\n \u201cThanks for nothing,\u201d she told Hochul.<\/p>\n Several servers coyly lamented the declining use of cash, which used to provide an ignorance-is-bliss workaround to getting their tips taxed. <\/p>\n \u201cI get most tips from credit cards, so that means everything is getting taxed,\u201d said David Aju, a server at Anatoly 56 Greek Taverna in Midtown.<\/p>\n \u201cHonestly, if my check comes out good, but then they take out a lot of taxes, it\u2019s bad for us.\u201d<\/p>\n Hannah Teal, 33, who tends bar at George and Jack\u2019s Tap Room in Williamsburg, said she only brought home $40,000 after taxes last year.<\/p>\n \u201cScrew her,\u201d one restaurant worker said about Gov.Hochul\u2019s inaction on the policy. Susan Watts\/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul<\/p>\n \u201cIt sucks to be taxed! That\u2019s why we love cash tips!\u201d Teal joked, noting she could\u2019ve taken home $3,000 more if not for state taxes, adding she\u2019d be \u201cecstatic\u201d if Hochul reversed course.<\/p>\n \u201cHow do you survive on $40,000 in New York City? You don\u2019t!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAffordability\u201d has become a recent rallying cry for Democrats, especially after the meteoric rise of democratic socialist Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.<\/p>\n Hochul herself jumped onto the affordability bandwagon<\/a>, doling out \u201cinflation refund checks\u201d up to $400 and pushing a child tax credit \u2014 even as she backed a $9 congestion toll<\/a> for cars entering Manhattan and other measures hitting New Yorkers in the wallet.<\/p>\n She notably did not push to match Trump\u2019s tip and overtime deductions, despite state Sen. George Borrello (R-Jamestown) proposing bills to do so for New Yorker taxpayers. <\/p>\n