> but arbitrarily excluding wages from someone’s earnings
No one's excluding wages from earnings, or tips from earnings; what is excluded is tips from wages, just as is done when setting a separate tipped minimum wage (that only is a minimum for wages, not wages plus tips), like the federal $2.13 and many state wage and hour laws for tipped employees, or when setting a minimum wage and not counting tips against it (as is the case in a number of US states and territories, including Washington, California, and others.)
No one's excluding wages from earnings, or tips from earnings; what is excluded is tips from wages, just as is done when setting a separate tipped minimum wage (that only is a minimum for wages, not wages plus tips), like the federal $2.13 and many state wage and hour laws for tipped employees, or when setting a minimum wage and not counting tips against it (as is the case in a number of US states and territories, including Washington, California, and others.)