What is the deal with taxes in Chicago bars? (sale, restaurants)

[rparz]

Pro Tip: Buy drinks with cash, tip bartender well.

You'll get great service and probably ultimately spend less.

[ChiGuy2.5]

Originally Posted by aragx6

Well it is taxed it's just built into the charge per drink -- mostly so that bartenders don't have to ring it up every time and take $4.39 or some other annoyingly odd number. OP, you're right: You're getting double taxed, no doubt about it, and it shouldn't happen.

Well I knew that, but I just meant it was taxed separately. Not included like when you purchase a drink. Im not dumb I swear!

[HappyGoLolly]

More than likely its an issue with the pos system. It is true most systems will tax drinks if food is on the bill. I manage a bar and when you add items into your system you select the tax category they fall under. I.e. food (which the system should tax) and liquor (where tax should be built in). I've entered new beers into inventory and later realized they got mis categorized and the system was calculating tax. That would be my hunch.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by HappyGoLolly

More than likely its an issue with the pos system. It is true most systems will tax drinks if food is on the bill. I manage a bar and when you add items into your system you select the tax category they fall under. I.e. food (which the system should tax) and liquor (where tax should be built in). I've entered new beers into inventory and later realized they got mis categorized and the system was calculating tax. That would be my hunch.

In most cases I don't think it's an oversight so much as most places serving both food and liquor either don't have systems that can differentiate items in different tax categories on a single tab, or they're just plain too lazy to program it that way. Or, as I suspect, many of them simply use it to rip off customers who are none the wiser and then pocket the difference.

[Gino1203]

I've seen that before too, albeit not at Barleycorn. It's strange because if you didn't open a tab with a credit card, and were were just given a bill at the end of the night you wouldn't be charged the tax.

[hindukid]

I kept track of my experiences this weekend.

Started at Wishbone on Lincoln. Had both food and beer and was charged tax on both.

Went to Toons on Southport. Started a tab and just ordered beer. No tax was charged.

Went from there to Lucky on Clark St. Had both beer and wings. Was charged tax on the food, but not on the drinks.

Seems to me like bars are all over the place on this. It seems that the proper method would be to tax food and not drinks but not everyone gets it right. Although I do feel like I am always taxed for drinks at restaurants. Are they ripping us off, or is there a distinction between restaurants serving alcohol and bars.

[linicx]

There should be a state liquor commission. They are the people you want to talk to.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by hindukid

I kept track of my experiences this weekend.

Started at Wishbone on Lincoln. Had both food and beer and was charged tax on both.

Went to Toons on Southport. Started a tab and just ordered beer. No tax was charged.

Went from there to Lucky on Clark St. Had both beer and wings. Was charged tax on the food, but not on the drinks.

Seems to me like bars are all over the place on this. It seems that the proper method would be to tax food and not drinks but not everyone gets it right. Although I do feel like I am always taxed for drinks at restaurants. Are they ripping us off, or is there a distinction between restaurants serving alcohol and bars.

It's been my observation/experience that you're more likely to have tax added on to alcohol when ordered at a restaurant that serves alcohol as a complement to food and where food is the main source of business, even if you only order alcohol; whereas at a tavern where alcohol shares equal or higher billing than food, tax is built into the price of drinks. That said, as we've observed throughout this thread many of the latter type will double-tax the drinks if there's also food on the bill, even if the drink tab comes to $75 and you ordered a $4 appetizer. They shouldn't, but many do. I think Lucky is in the minority as an alcohol-focused food-and-drink establishments that does it the "right" way.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by linicx

There should be a state liquor commission. They are the people you want to talk to.

Yes there is a state liquor commission and no they don't care if taverns are double-taxing drinks on patron's tabs. That's a revenue issue, not a liquor control issue. And I doubt the Department of Revenue gives a whit how the tab gets added up either as long as they get their cut.

[long101]

Dont bars and restaurants have the option to include tax in their drinks? I'd be willing to bet a place like Fridays would charge you tax on a drink if you sit at a bar, but your local watering hole has tax included in the beer. I think the only way to know for sure is to ask the establishments