The tax thing with reference to Sint Maarten always gets me. Tipping should NEVER be required and it should be deserved. That’s just my personal opinion, and it used to be the accepted rule that SXM was a tax-free island.

But that said, we’ve never allowed a wait-person to NOT receive a tip, even if they didn’t deserve it. Courage of my convictions? I guess not…..at least not in this case.

I thought the only restaurant tax was the TOT and that wasn’t supposed to be passed on to the consumer as a tax on the check but was intended as a tax to the business itself. I realize all taxes end up being paid by the end consumer, just like the island hotel tax that runs anywhere from 5% to whatever they can get away with and likewise the car rental tax which seems to vary from concession to concession.

IMHO, if it’s shown on the bill on the Dutch side, it’s a tip! Regardless of what the server or the proprietor says. We usually leave a little more up to the 20 to 25 % level but the service has to be good and the extra money goes directly into the hands of our server.