Working from home has obvious drawbacks. The gossip around the coffee machine is lost and, although these can be replaced by WhatsApp groups, the internet does not have the same morbidity and, in addition, it is more dangerous, because from Luis BÃ Dozens of us all know that everything is written there and, as Cardinal Richelieu said of the ‘chats’ of the eighteenth century, “never write any letter and never throw any that you receive”.
With telecommuting there are more drawbacks. Some lose their symbols of power: office and secretary to yell at. Because the pleasure of giving orders ‘live’ is much less than doing it ‘online’. A surly plaintive eye at a command is not the same as an emoji. The problem also affects the troop class, some of whose members are deprived of making the ball live, always more efficient than through the nets. Finally, some suffer the greatest punishment possible: being home alone; or be at home with their families. Choose the neurosis you prefer.
It is true that we save the subway, bus, and traffic jams. And that we can work in pajamas, always, yes, that we dress to enter Zoom or Webex. But what is gained is not always beneficial. Thanks to the Internet and smart phones, with teleworking we have the certainty that we will never disconnect, that there will always be an email, a message, a call of those that begin with a “sorry, I did not know that you were with your son at the doctor, I just bothered you for a second … “.
But telecommuting is also a status symbol. The Covid-19 crisis has accentuated inequalities at all levels, and this is particularly visible when it comes to examining who can practice teleworking and who cannot. In general, professionals work from home. Lower-skilled workers have to go to their workplaces and expose themselves to contracting Covid-19. Either that, or they’ve lost their jobs because workplaces are closed.
And that’s where Deutsche Bank has come in, with a provocative proposal: to create a special tax for teleworking, which would be paid by companies, since they save office expenses and can even do without physical headquarters, in addition of some taxes, such as the IBI. The tax rate would be 5% of the gross salary of each employee who has to perform their work functions from home by decision of the company.
Deutsche Bank proposes to allocate these tax revenues to people who cannot carry out their activity because it has closed due to the coronavirus. According to the bank, the total collection could reach 41,000 million euros per year in the United States and 16,000 in Germany. In the American case, this would allow the State to send an annual check for 1,413 euros to each of the 29 million Americans who earned less than 24,500 euros gross per year (a figure that in Spain is very good but that in that country it is just enough to live in a not very expensive area) and that they have seen their work disappear due to the pandemic.
It is a provocative idea, which should probably be ‘refined’ and adapted to each country, but which is reasonable, and even more so at a time when countries like Spain are discovering that ERTEs do not give more yes. In fact, mere teleworking is causing devastation in the urban centers of large capitals, as restaurants, car parks, etc. close because there are no people working in offices and need to eat, drink coffee, or park the car.
This tax would be a way to promote real solidarity in a time of crisis. And Deutsche Bank executives who have come up with the idea while telecommuting should be the first to pay their branch employees who cannot go there.
Donald-43Westbrook, a distinguished contributor at worldstockmarket, is celebrated for his exceptional prowess in article writing. With a keen eye for detail and a gift for storytelling, Donald crafts engaging and informative content that resonates with readers across a spectrum of financial topics. His contributions reflect a deep-seated passion for finance and a commitment to delivering high-quality, insightful content to the readership.
