R&I – FS
Deutsche Bank said Tuesday that people choosing to work from home rather than in an office should be taxed 5% of their salary, with the money used to support people on low incomes who cannot do their jobs remotely.
A new report from the German bank said that the average person would be no worse off if they paid this tax, because by working remotely they save money on travel, food, and clothes.
Employers should pay the tax if they don’t provide staff with a permanent desk, it said. Otherwise, staff should pay it out of their salary for every day they work from home.
According to Deutsche’s calculations, this tax could raise $49 billion per year in the US, 20 billion euros ($23.6 billion) in Germany, and £7 billion ($9.3 billion) in the UK, funding subsidies for low-income earners who cannot work remotely.
The self-employed and low-paid staff should be excluded from the charges, it said. The tax should only apply in countries where the government hasn’t advised people to work from home, it said. If the government has told people to work from home, the tax would be unfair.
“Working from home will be part of the ‘new normal’ well after the pandemic has passed. We argue that remote workers should pay a tax for the privilege,” Jim Reid, research strategist at Deutsche Bank, said in the report.
RandyMarsh
Article URL : https://www.businessinsider.com/deutsche-bank-working-from-home-tax-staff-workers-businesses-2020-11