“The sudden shift to WFH means that, for the first time in history, a big chunk of people have disconnected themselves from the face-to-face world yet are still leading a full economic life,” wrote strategist Luke Templeman. “That means remote workers are contributing less to the infrastructure of the economy whilst still receiving its benefits.”
We’re all familiar with the “infrastructure” Templeman refers to. Huge swathes of downtown office real estate sit empty, along with their computer networks and utility hook-ups.
Straight to wall.
Tons of those buildings are half empty. A sufficiently motivated city council could forcibly convert them into public housing for only the cost of the drywall separating the units.
Wow could you imagine enjoying all the benefits of the infrastructure of the economy without contributing to that in taxes or labor?
What's that? You're not using public roads or COMSUMING more products then you need to by working from home?
You're even able to put a little money into savings in case you have to go to the hospital for covid treatment this winter? HOW DARE YOU SAVE MONEY! IT'S TAX TIME.
Imagine living in this economy and thinking "we need to tax the poors more".
“Remote workers are spending less time and money at places we coincidentally own and lord over. Let’s just cut the pretence and pick their pockets lol.”
Expect conservative “think tanks” to accelerate this idea. Too many inner-city land owners, who happen to be or rub shoulders with politicians (just look at the UK government lmao), stand to lose money with this working from home arrangement and, well, we wouldn’t want to upset the status quo now would we old sport?
Should working from home be taxed?
like i am pretty sure there is like home taxes so not really no
Ultimately he's proposing a nearly direct wealth transfer but maybe start somewhere other than folks making $55k/yr? Like idk the fuckers who made billions during the pandemic? Just an idea.
It is such a bad take like the argument is lets do direct wealth transfer so we don't have to tax the people who really profit out of the existing infrastructure it is wild
Having employees work from home means you don't need to get an office, pay bills for that office, and you need less office supplies. Working from home should result in raises
Most of the FAANG companies already would adjust your pay rate if you moved from the Bay Area to a cheaper location in the company, like to their office in Boulder . That they’ve extended that to include working from home but moving is not much of a surprise, but still a dick move.
Long term it will be interesting, if the larger companies start accepting permanent remote jobs in mass numbers, how they handle pay rates.
there are a few work-from-home downsides that Templeman does acknowledge, including caring for family.
:xi-plz:
