Income tax on tips

I don’t work for tips, but I’m genuinely curious, if you worked for tips your whole life and it wasn’t taxable income would you still be eligible for social security and other social programs? It’s my understanding that you need 40 quarters of taxable income that meet a minimum income for each year. I’m curious because it seems to me that on paper the people who would benefit from this the most would suffer in the long run, and there’s an opportunity to exploit this for higher earners by receiving a portion of their salary as a tip.