How Much Of Your Labour Do You Retain?
Hey Jessitizens
As a self-proclaimed Bitcoin bull, I have a pretty loud mouth, especially in the early years. As I’ve matured, or so tell myself, I’ve started to quiet down and not shout from the rooftops about this awesome new form of managing your purchasing power.
However, my early rants have branded me as the “Bitcoin guy” in some circles. Some people have told me to shut up about it, while others have bought in and told me only through my passionate explanations and my encouraging to Do my own research that they came to similar conclusions.
I find that pretty awesome to hear; getting someone to find Bitcoin on their own time is one of my favourite activists. Pointing them in a direction and letting them find their own path there.
What I’ve noticed is the different messaging appeal to different people, so I’m always trying to take Bitcoin and apply it to things people already understand.
One thing people understand is each year; they are coming home with less. Depending on your earnings and consumption habits, this could be via a range of things, but one thing we can bank on is the big daddy government coming for their share.
So I decided to look into how much we retain once it’s all said and done here in South Africa.
Tax on your production
| Yearly Taxable income (R) | USD Value | Rates of tax (R) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 – 216 200 | $1- $14 400 | 18% of taxable income | |
| 216 201 – 337 800 | $1- $14 400 | 38 916 + 26% of taxable income above 216 200 | |
| 337 801 – 467 500 | $14 400 - $31 170 | 70 532 + 31% of taxable income above 337 800 | |
| 467 501 – 613 600 | $31 170 - $41 100 | 110 739 + 36% of taxable income above 467 500 | |
| 613 601 – 782 200 | $41 100 - $52 150 | 163 335 + 39% of taxable income above 613 600 | |
| 782 201 – 1 656 600 | $52 150- $110 450 | 229 089 + 41% of taxable income above 782 200 | |
| 1 656 601 and above | $110 450 - and above | 587 593 + 45% of taxable income above 1 656 600 |
Tax on your consumption
Here we have a double tax on anything we consume firstly the obvious would be 15% VAT (Value Added Tax) which is added to all goods and services.
We also have a sin tax on certain products like cigarette, alcohol and sugar.
- It’s around 50% on cigarettes
- 20% on alcohol
- 11% on sugar products
The second is not as well known is 68% of all petrol is taxed. This has widespread effects on raising the cost of living. It makes travelling expensive, it makes moving products expensive, and it makes certain jobs uneconomical.
Tax on your property
If you are lucky enough to own a piece of property, you’re hit with a tax of if around 18% if you ever sell it for more than 1.5 million in profit.
Tax on your investments
If you’re trying to get ahead and want to invest, if you’re making anything above R40 000 a year in investment income, then you will have to pay 18% on that.
Tax on your savings
Then we come to good old cash in the bank; our reported inflation rate is 4.32% a year.
The best investment accounts with banks here are only kicking off about 4%, and those are money market accounts with a high qualifying amount. Most savings accounts are netting you 3.2 or less.
So you’re probably getting a negative rate of 1.1% per year compounding. So the longer you’ve been saving, the more purchasing power you’re losing.
What's leftover?
If we do a rough calculation without inflation alone, you're probably giving up 50% of your purchasing power to taxes. If we add to that inflation, it could be much more depending on the country you're living in.
- So, what is the point of working?
- What is the point of saving?
I am still a bit divided on tax; a part of me is an absolute narco capitalist and feels we need no government we can provide for ourselves. But another part of me feels that we should have a voluntary system of taxation where bonds for very specific needs are issued and tax is collected to return capital to the investor/citizens.
Milking the cows 🐄
Regardless of how you feel about it or what you want to do about it, I think we can all agree taxes have far exceeded what they should be and with no escape we are sitting ducks.
In a system like this, where there is a constant attack on your purchasing power, Bitcoin starts to make a lot of sense.
Have your say
What do you good people of HIVE think?
So have at it my Jessies! If you don't have something to comment, "I am a Jessie."
Let's connect
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The tax rates are really too high, I must say. I think one needs to make a lot of investments that won't demand government taxing. It's absurd paying almost 50% tax on your earnings.
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That’s why the rich also tend to remain rich they can afford to reduce their tax burdens through clever accounting that normal salary people cannot afford
It’s not just about making a lot more money but how you protect it from government attack! Even 5% compound over 40 years is a lot more purchasing power to keep hold of if you can find ways to protect it
At 50% you actually working 6 months out of the year for free to pay for your government and to me thats unacceptable
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Taxation is a scam @chekohler. Especially in a third world country like India. Our government is looting with direct taxes on income and indirect taxes on essential and non essential commodities.
It's like hell right now. While the oil prices are quite low, we are paying a huge amount of tax on Petrol and Diesel. One of the highest in the world.
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It’s a total scam and they just keep pushing it further and no one argues becUse it’s for the “country” and the “greater good” which is bullshit.
If tax worked our countries would be in a better place but it’s not! Give the money to the people who earn it and let them decide what to do with it!
High taxes is an insult to people saying you too dumb to know what to do with the money you earn so give it to us
But as long as india and South Africa have this large population of poor there’s always this excuse we need more to help them but does it ever get there? I double it just goes into big government and businesses who wouldn’t otherwise work if the government wasn’t their customer
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Way to much tax.
Well I don’t see the Aussies letting up either they’re planning all sorts of weird and wonderful ways to get at your pockets after all the money the RBA have been printing
I’m still amazed that after all this Aussie home prices still can’t go down! Lol who the hell is paying for all this? Oh wait you the tax payer
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Death by a thousand taxes! Like that podcast you shared the other day, by the time we retire, we will have paid 50% of all we have on taxes. Not sure what there is left to tax, don't think there's any stone unturned here in the UK either! This all makes it difficult to retain your value from labour especially when we're not taught any financial education at school (for obvious reasons)
What gets me is how accepting we are of it, the majority will not do anything and then it can lead to uprisings once the middle class finally starts to feel the pinch!
I hate this idea that it’s my civic duty as if it’s no noble! Sure I don’t want to get into the shit but what option do I have? I don’t see why half your life’s work is owed to your country that’s bullshit
Then we told to work harder, invest better get a second job! Why don’t governments try that shit, why don’t they get second jobs?
No politician can print prosperity it’s only promises backed by forced wealth redistribution. The more I get into this the more I don’t want to sell my Bitcoin
The bigger my bags the bigger my middle finger to all this is
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Yeah I hear you. Folks like us are still at the point of being the outsider, conspiracy theorists, tin foil hat, weirdos etc. for doing our research in to what actually is going on. Until people start to branch out of their comfort zones and understanding this whole situation, we can only try to educate so much. Meanwhile, we accumulate sats and HODL forever.
It’s almost same story in all countries
In my country as well you may end up paying 50% of your income in different Taxes.
That’s too much.
I don’t mind paying reasonable tax if I am getting good services in return. But I am sure a lot of people are misusing the govt services like people deliberately not trying to find a job to get free allowance from govt and this is a big issue. First they are not contributing to tax and second they are eating our paid tax.
Can you imagine how much you’d have left if you were able to keep your own I come and invest, save, start a business, educate your kids and help family members with that extra 50%
People would be able to spend less time at work meaning more time to build their community and support new projects
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you're right,taxes eat and kill us, so investing in bitcoin is the best investment, thanks for the post
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Well if you are lucky enough to have anything left over! Not all of us make it though with some and that is really sad and it seems like more not less people are falling into this trap
I am trying to forget my labour 😬
Retirement already? Lol I hope Bitcoin will retire me very soon! I want to be start enjoying my pensioners discounts i. my 30s
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I’m with you on the voluntary tax thing. I should choose what tax programs I want to opt into. You know what one I won’t? Government bureaucracy! lol. I would love to sit down monthly or quarterly and say “ok here’s my tax dollars, where should I give it to? The system won’t be that fair though so it’s a pipe dream but one that would be amazing!
I think it would be an interesting experiment since it wouldn’t be on the federal level but on the state/town/province level so being a stingy dick won’t cut it because you spiting yourself!
And giving shit service means you’re replaced with someone who will! Cities would compete with one another and people would have more options! Sure there will be shit holes but that would be the citizens fault
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Some level of taxation is required but the best run countries seem to have a low tax rate and minimal waste. Anything more than 25% is paying for fay cat politician lifestyles in my opinion.
I would say 10% is more than enough it shouldn’t be about the percentage and trying to tweak that, but allowing your country to produce as much as they need and then looking at what can be used administrative tasks abs civil services.
I don’t like this idea it must be this percent and we need this amount to run the country. It tries to say the country is just a static thing when it’s far more dynamic than that and when you take it to percentages you can quickly start creeping back to where we are now
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Thank you very much for the post, have a good day and a great mood
You too! Have a great weekend
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