Did A ‘Tax Protester’ Sanctimoniously Stiff A Waiter, As Seen On Reddit?

A pic, purported to be from a waiter stiffed by a “tax protester” has made the unusual leap from Reddit to the blogosphere after it prompted intense debate, and the image is almost impossible to verify as real or fake — at least in terms of backstory.

The tax protester tip pic is predictably the sort of thing that would go viral, however, as one of the least sympathetic things humans can do to one another is punish an innocent party for what they perceive to be the sins of another.

Part of what makes the tax protester tip pic so intriguingly awful, too, is its tone — in it, if the description is accurate, a restaurant patron seems to insinuate they are wealthy but declines to tip a server and blames President Obama.

(Whether or not you agree with the tipping custom, everyone is aware that servers are paid far less than minimum wage and that tips essentially are their pay — we can argue about whether this is a fair to diners or waiters system, but at the end of the day, we all know that if you do not tip your server, your server is not getting paid.)

The note allegedly left by the presumably well-off diner simply reads:

“As a direct result of Proposition 30 and President Obama’s insistence that I pay ‘MY FAIR SHARE IN TAXES,’ I find that I must cut back on discretionary spending and gratuities.”

It continues:

“I wish it didn’t have to be this way for both of us.”

While the note is superficially infuriating, ultimately, the mustache-twirling aspect seems to vivid to ignore — would a “wealthy person,” part of the much derided one percent, really behave so cartoonishly cruel and take their tax gripes out on a poor waiter?

As much a we can all relate to the circumstance of being treated unfairly, it seems almost too obnoxious to be true, nearly like it was written by a anti-anti-tax person to show what horrible jerks people who object to a fairer taxation system are in real life.

Do you think the tax protester tip note is real? You can read the original Reddit thread here.