In this Monday, May 11, 2020 file photo, a pedestrian walks across the Millennium Bridge over the river Thames in London, during the morning rush hour as the lockdown continues to help stop the spread of coronavirus. White collar staff reaping the financial benefits of working from home should be taxed to help other workers who aren't getting the same advantages, experts at Deutsche Bank said in a new report on Tuesday Nov. 10, 2020. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)
By Kelvin Chan
White collar staff reaping the financial benefits of working from home should be taxed to help other workers who aren't getting the same advantages, experts at Deutsche Bank said in a new report.
In its report on how to rebuild the economy after COVID-19, the bank proposed a 5% daily tax on each employee that continues to work from home, which could raise tens of billions of dollars for governments. The money could be used to help lower income workers who have taken on greater risk because their jobs can't be done remotely, it said.
The bank noted that the global pandemic has turbocharged the shift to remote work, a trend that looks set to last for the long term with many workers expecting to spend at least a few days of their workweek at home even after the pandemic ends.
These workers benefit from more convenience and flexibility. They also save money directly because they don't have to pay for commuting costs, takeout lunches, or buying and dry cleaning work clothes - but it means those businesses that have grown up to support office workers won't be able to recover and “the economic malaise will be extended,” the report said.
While it doesn't make sense for the government to support, say, a downtown sandwich shop if it doesn't have any more customers from nearby office towers, “it does make sense to support the mass of people who have been suddenly displaced by forces outside their control,” the bank said. “From a personal and economic point of view, it makes sense that these people should be given a helping hand."
The tax would amount to just over $10 a day, assuming the average salary of an American working from home is $55,000. That's roughly the amount the worker might spend on commuting, lunch, and laundry, which would leave them no worse off than going into the office, the report said. It could raise up to $48 billion in the U.S. Deutsche Bank carried out similar calculations for Germany and the U.K.
But the proposals faced heavy skepticism.
Andrew Hunter, co-founder of job search engine Adzuna.co.uk said the idea was misguided and predicted it would be incredibly unpopular.
“It punishes progressive companies and those with kids or caring responsibilities, who were responsible during the pandemic, who are already taking on more costs and helping the environment by staying at home," said Hunter. “Let's be honest, there are many better ways to raise taxes!”
Joe Cecela, Dream Exchange CEO, explains how they are aiming to form the first minority-controlled company to operate an exchange in U.S. history. Watch!
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
