03 Jul 2003
Screwing Telecommuters

As a telecommuter myself, this tale of denied unemployment benefits from MSNBC really galls me.

My health insurance is already screwed up:it's a great plan if you live in the state where my employer is located, otherwise, everything's "out of network" and double the cost! And now this ruling (sure to be cited as precedent) means that when and if the next downturn comes along I can't even collect on the unemployment taxes that I've been paying! Don't tell me workers don't pay these taxes - we do, in the form of reduced wages because the employer has to bear the direct cost of the taxes. Businesses never pay taxes - they raise prices or cut salaries to meet the tax expense and still turn a profit. That's they they exist. In the final analysis, individual citizens pay all the taxes, one way or another.

I've never been much in favor of unions, but this is where one would come in damn handy. Or maybe all 26 million of us (telecommuters) should just resign and go on straight contracts at double our current rates. Maybe that'd wake somebody up.

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