Taxing your brain

I’ve cringed when restaurants deliver checks that, at the bottom, have various levels of tips calculated: here’s what 17 percent of the check’s total would be; here’s what 19 percent would be; etc. Especially because I’ve caught restaurants calculating those percentages based on the post-tax total. That strikes me as deceptive.*

The entire economy is in the shitter, so can we please, please please, stop talking about whether to tip on the tax? A tiny bit of math:
Assuming a $100 check total, plus a an 8.25 NY tax, your base for tipping is either $100, or $108.25. Figuring an 18% tip, the difference in the tip is $18.00 vs. $19.48. If you/Uncle Punch can't swing that buck forty-eight, you have no business eating in restaurants. In either case, the civilized thing to do, in the case of reasonable, unexceptional service, would be to throw down a double sawbuck.
*Surprising that a noted fan of our current president would take such a dim view of financial chicanery.