Text 44208, 98 rader
Skriven 2006-12-19 23:38:00 av Michiel van der Vlist (2:280/5555)
  Kommentar till text 44199 av Roy Witt (1:397/22)
Ärende: Insults
===============
Hello Roy!

On Tuesday December 19 2006 13:43, you wrote to me:

 RW>>> I can't speak for her, but I'd bet that she could do just as
 RW>>> well at it as the cleaning lady, if she had to.

 MvdV>> I am sure she could, but that isn't the point. Point is that
 MvdV>> she does not have to.

 RW> because there is work in her field, otherwise, she might have to.

Bottom line: she does not have to.

 MvdV>>>> No, it was not a master/servant relationship and there was no
 MvdV>>>> payment as it was an equal status relationship. We took turns
 MvdV>>>> at doing the chores.

 RW>>> Was she employed outside of your home?

 MvdV>> On a part time basis, yes.

 RW> the rest of the time, she was at home doing the cleaning.

Of course not. Not all the time. Ever so often she was acting net control on
the local 2m net while I did the cleaning.

She was good at that: running the net. She had a very clear voice and of course
being an xyl she never needed the linear. The second X chromosome is good for
two S points...

 MvdV>>>> And it is the same with my present compagnion of life. We
 MvdV>>>> take an equal share in doing the dirty work.

 RW>>> Can't afford a cleaning lady, eh...

 MvdV>> It is not a matter of not being able to afford it.

 RW> I know, taxes are so high in your country, one can't afford to buy
 RW> bread, let alone hire a house-worker.

I have no problem buying bread. And if I can no longer but bread, I can always
buy cake.

 MvdV>> As far as the economics are concerned, doing it myself is more
 MvdV>> a matter of economic efficiency. You see when someone is
 MvdV>> legally employed here roughly 50% of the money involved goes
 MvdV>> into overhead.

 RW> Here, there's a reason why most of them are self-employed in their own
 RW> business. You see, a cleaning lady may be licensed as a business and
 RW> there's no taxes paid by those who employ her services.

I see no reason why a cleaner could not operate as a bussiness here, but I see
no advantage either. It just raises the adminstrative overhead.

 RW> She pays her own taxes and her customers have a legal tax deduction
 RW> for services rendered.

In the end it makes no difference *who* actually pays the taxes. If the cleaner
ends up with 10 Euro in his/her hand after taxes, 20 Euro has to be footed by
whoever employs him/her. The employer can give the cleaner Eur 10 and pay Eur
10 in taxes, or the employer can hand over Eur 20 to the cleaner and than the
cleaner pays Eur 10 on taxes. Same end result.

Running the cleaning operation as a bussines does not help. Before the cleaner
can buy bread to eat, he/she has to transfer the money form the bussines to
his/her private wallet and then he/she pays income tax. 50%. Same end result.
If the bussines buys the bread and gives it to the cleaner to eat, it is
considered income "in natura" and it is levied with income tax. TANSTAAFL.

 MvdV>> It is much more economical to just do the job myself. Then
 MvdV>> noting gets lost in overhead.

 RW> If you hire a contractor to build you a room addition (never mind that
 RW> you don't have any room to spare for it), are you paying his taxes or
 RW> are you 'employing' his services through his business?

I employ his services through his bussiness. He pays the taxes. And of course
his rates take that into account...

 MvdV>> Under our system, it seldom pays for a private individual to
 MvdV>> hire someone to do a job for him/her. So most people only do
 MvdV>> that when they are unable to do it themselves because it
 MvdV>> requires special skills or special equipment. Cleaning does not
 MvdV>> fall into that category.

 RW> It does if I didn't own a vacuum cleaner and a mop.

The required equipment is widely available and the investment is less than one
hour's pays for the cleaner. If you can not afford a vacuum cleaner, you surely
can not afford to hire a cleaning lady.


Cheers, Michiel

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