Now you have two Amazon's. There is absolutely no difference between them. Goods are ten percent pricier in second one, but employees are paid more (they appreciate tips anyway).
Which company would you buy from? Which company would you invest in?
On the one hand you have society paying for this externality, and on the other you force employers to accurately reflect the market conditions and price that externality in.
Not generally, but probably common in the current political attitude of “reducing the taxes of the rich and taxing the poor.”
It depends on the tax. If the tax is a fixed percentage of wage/income/property, then, at least in general, they affect everyone equally.
However, taxes such as VAT or sales tax, affect the population with less money harder because they make everything, even the basic necessities, more expensive. People that have a substantial chunk of income that they invest/save are hit substantially less by those taxes since they don't intend to spend the investment in the first place.
If your fixed expenses (food, rent, utilities) are 80% of your monthly pay, and the tax reduces everyone's monthly pay by 5%, you're going to have to cut something (cheaper food, small luxuries, or just no longer saving money for emergencies). If you make enough that your cost-of-living is only 50% of your monthly pay, it might dip your savings a little but you'll get through it just fine.
But somehow in the US people are trained not to think in that direction. It's more common to be aware of such possibilities in Europe, or to expect from the system not to completely ruin the life of the poorest.
This is for a combination of reasons:
* The working conditions of Amazon employees (the pickers, the packers, the drivers etc...) is abhorrent IMHO
* The huge (legal but scummy) tax dodges they get away with
* The amount of fake products on Amazon is completely ridiculous
* In relation to the above, the epidemic of fake/paid reviews
* Their packing of some products is laughable, I received a £600 HDD in the same packet they send softback books in. It went Cardboard > Antistatic bag > HDD. Fuck that, I sent it back for a refund without even testing it.
I built a new PC a couple of months back, it was ~£50 cheaper through Amazon than the retailer I ended up buying it from but I'll choose the smaller (yet still known to me) simply because they offer a better service and don't treat their staff abhorrently.
Amazon used to excel at service and quality, now they have most of the market that is gone IMHO.
(Shout out to https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/ for being an awesome tool for PC builders!)
Do you expect such a restaurant will attract the best talent? I do not.
But there seem to be two equilibria. Opening a restaurant in Paris and telling diners they should tip 20% because you aren't paying the waiters (oh and we left VAT off the menu, another 20%)... even if this were legal, I think you'd have great trouble attracting either customers or waiters.
I think maybe that's the part of the picture into the American tipping situation that Europeans and 1% Silicon Valley workers alike are missing. Most Americans who support tipping do so because they personally know a waiter who knows they make out like a bandit from the scheme. Europeans are less likely to be personally acquainted with an American waiter than your average American, as are wealthy tech workers on the spectrum.
Seems like they’re quite busy: https://www.manhattarestaurant.com/
Everyone is responsible here. Problem is, more expensive doesn't necessarily translate to "more ethical".
Rather than everyone becoming a happy, well-paid employee what you actually get is people working via rent-seeking agencies and middle-men - each taking their cut from the same pie.
I am not saying the current system is perfect but legislation needs to allow for some flexibility in the modern workplace.