They already do! Giggers (I see how that reads on a proof but leaving it in bc it’s apropos) are almost universally treated as contractors so there is a whole constellation of billing practices that can be applied even before anything that gets classified as a tip goes in the tax free bucket!

A tip from whomst, for example? Sure, you put ten bucks down as your tip to the driver, but the company puts its hand in the tip jar as well (famously, as documented in a bunch of lawsuits!). What percentage of your tip goes to the driver and what percentage goes to the company? Almost certainly it will be a floating range manipulated to incentivize people to work for less company outlay during the most profitable (for the company) times!

People in the gig economy are still gonna get screwed by this through a series of Byzantine rules.

Which is fine because the gig economy is the new service industry, the noob trap you should only be in if you know exactly and precisely why and what you’re doing.

There's a cap that limits most of the shenanigans. Plus gig workers still have to pay self-employement tax and ss/Medicare tax on the tips. It's just an income tax deduction