@walesmaven wrote:
Lainerz,
It depends. Let's say I am doing a whole bunch of garage shops in a busy downtown area that is a 45 minute drive from my home. I want to have lunch near one of those sites while my vehicle is parked. Rather than pay $12 for my lunch, I take a shop at a lunch place that I would have been willing to pay for, get reimbursed and write a report. I just got goods and services worth $12 to me, but for which I would have had to earn more than $12 before taxes, in order to buy.
I need an oil change. I can pay $43 or do it as a shop, write the report and get fully reimbursed. Again, a tax-free gain for a report. I have not paid for an oil change since 2005.
I do not feel that I worked for free. I got goods and services that I needed, all for writing a report.
YMMV
@Niner wrote:
I agree. The government takes something like 35-40% of my salary, so reimbursed meals and services are a bargain. I would have to spend after tax money for these things. For a $100 oil change, I would need to earn around $160 at work (160*.65). If the MSC reimburses $200 for dinner, that's about $320 before taxes that I need to earn. This is my first year doing mystery shopping, so I hope this works out during tax time.
@Niner wrote:
I agree. The government takes something like 35-40% of my salary, so reimbursed meals and services are a bargain. I would have to spend after tax money for these things. For a $100 oil change, I would need to earn around $160 at work (160*.65). If the MSC reimburses $200 for dinner, that's about $320 before taxes that I need to earn. This is my first year doing mystery shopping, so I hope this works out during tax time.
@Tarantado wrote:
@Niner wrote:
I agree. The government takes something like 35-40% of my salary, so reimbursed meals and services are a bargain. I would have to spend after tax money for these things. For a $100 oil change, I would need to earn around $160 at work (160*.65). If the MSC reimburses $200 for dinner, that's about $320 before taxes that I need to earn. This is my first year doing mystery shopping, so I hope this works out during tax time.
Geez. You must live in a state with very, very high taxes or you're a top 1%'er or both.
@oteixeira wrote:
The more I read about what y'all pay the more I love rural NC. I left NJ 20+ years ago because I could not afford a nice home near where I worked without having a multi-thousand dollar mortgage.
Not in California. See where your taxes are going there: [www.ebudget.ca.gov] Note the 60% increase in government operations, with the largest expenditure ($64,319,000,000 for Health and Human Services) - funded by a 9% corporate tax increase, a 3.3% personal income tax increase (over 3 Billion dollars) along with a 5.1% sales and use tax.@Irene_L.A. wrote:
So is the economy really better?
@oteixeira wrote:
The more I read about what y'all pay the more I love rural NC. I left NJ 20+ years ago because I could not afford a nice home near where I worked without having a multi-thousand dollar mortgage.
@maryanncostello wrote:
If you read shop instructions, transport yourself to the shop, complete the shop activity, return to your origin, write the report and proof the report, you are spending an enormous amount of time for a $12 to $50 shop. This is complicated by travel expense if the distance is not within five miles of origin. A complete analysis of hours worked, travel time and travel expense should be considered before accepting a shop if you are doing this for income. If you divide your shop fee by total hours spent you will find hourly rate. Compare this calculated rate to the minimum wage. Now, how are you doing?
@Irene_L.A. wrote:
I would rather pay the price and live in a sophisticated city with great Museums, theater, music and all the goodies I need to emotionally survive.....Macy's, Western bagel, all the MS work I want, beaches, mountains,
it's still better (for me) than being isolated. Let's not forget the best Dr.s..... I love California.
@Niner wrote:
I am in NY and have a modest 1400 sq ft house. My property taxes are around 15k/yr. I probably do make enough to be considered top 5%, but there is nothing fancy about my life. We have a 2007 car with close to 500k miles and another Toyota. We are not driving around in Mercedes or the like, and mystery shopping has provided me with my first "fancy" dining experience. The one luxury we have is we bought another modest home out of state that we are at every week. I am not complaining, I feel that we are blessed, but life is not about first class and five star anything over here.