I'm redoing my bathroom and looking to put a 30" vanity where this waste drain is. Can I remove it, as it absolutely serves no purpose at all in my opinion. Will I miss it in the future even though I have yet to know its true purpose besides getting in my way.
I'm about to redo the floor and would like to get rid of it.

It was used as a stopper for the tub. If you don't have a drum trap, it would provide a place to snake the drain.



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it is an integral part of the overflow for the bathtub. if you cut and cap that pipe close to the floor you will have no overflow protection nor will you be able to stop the drain unless you use a rubber plug.
i have (once) removed the entire waste and overflow and by reaching up inside the tub aprons installed a regular pop-up type waste.
you will need to cut a generous hole in the floor but if you are installing a vanity over it, it will be covered.
the trap below the floor will need to be repositioned for the new tub drain.
BTW, around here that drain is called a "bayonette" drain.

When I say I have never used it, I'm being literal. It doesn't stop up the tub at all. All I get is backflow suds from when the person on top of me uses the washing machine. Well, thanks for the advice as my first reaction was to cut and plug. Since that's a no go I will just DIY a custom fit floating vanity around it.

BTW I get more google results pertaining to waste drain than bayonette, Bayonette drain, bayonette bathtub, bayonette trap, bayonette bathroom. When I google bayonette bathroom, I actualy get a bayonette gun layed up in bathroom, lol.



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Our term for it was "remote overflow".

that is like going to AZ and asking for a submarine sandwich and a bottle of tonic. they wouldn't understand.
in NY i believe it is a hero sandwich with a bottle of pop.
anyway we call the drain a bayonette because it obviously slides into a pipe the same way a bayonette slides into a sheathe.
more terms you will never find anywhere are... goesinta and goesova
( goes into)
( goes over)
so, a plug is a 'goesinta'
while a cap is a 'goesova'
cabeesh..

In that case, it would make as much, if not more, sense to call it a "sword" or a "sabre" because they are LONG like the drain part and they also slide into a sheath, and they are worked by hand, not by using a rifle.