Minimum wage bill held hostage...

That is the choice of verbage that CNN selected on their front page to get you to click on their article. Maybe I'm looking at this from a different perspective but realistically those who work in restaurants take a chance on making less than the minimum wage and at times make much more than the minimum wage. Increasing the amount of the bill while it should raise the amount of tip, unless you are working at one of the few places that adds an automatic gratuity, price increases in food items does not guarantee higher tips. Two of my daughters work as waitresses. There are days when they do very well, and there are days where they barely make enough money to cover the gas necessary to drive to work.

There is no guarantee that if the government gives restaurant owners a tax break that this will transcend to keeping prices lower. It also seems rather unfair to give a restaurant a tax break when a majority of them already do pay their employees less than minium wage when places like service stations or other retail locations were there is also a smaller profit margin in mark up don't get that same break...