Re:More bosses give four-day workweek a try
by glenneroo on Friday February 21, 2020 @09:56PM
(#22389091)
A few years ago I seriously contemplated changing professions, so my boss allowed me to switch from full-time to 20 hours/week spread across 2-3 days. One immediate upside was that I only took a ~35% paycut due to being in a different tax bracket. As I dove deeper into my new career, I realized it wasn't for me, so I stayed at my old job... and now I can't imagine ever going back to full-time, as my quality of life has risen exponentially and I finally have enough time and energy for my never-ending list of hobbies and side-projects.
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Re:More bosses give four-day workweek a try
by EpicEng on Friday February 21, 2020 @10:14PM
(#22389168)
>One immediate upside was that I only took a ~35% paycut due to being in a different tax bracket.
Are you in the US? If so, you can't save money on taxes by making less; it's a progressive system.
Re:More bosses give four-day workweek a try
by balfirevic on Saturday February 22, 2020 @08:39AM
(#22390924)
He didn't say he saved money by working less. He said he worked 50% less but only got 35% less money.
Re:More bosses give four-day workweek a try
by glenneroo on Friday February 21, 2020 @10:18PM
(#22389184)
I guess that's another quality of life perk of working outside the US :)
Re:More bosses give four-day workweek a try
by EpicEng on Friday February 21, 2020 @10:45PM
(#22389287)
Well, I'd say the opposite... Here you'd be making more money.
Re:More bosses give four-day workweek a try
by glenneroo on Friday February 21, 2020 @10:54PM
(#22389323)
I admit to being blissfully ignorant regarding financial matters but isn't 50% less work while earning 33% less (as opposed to 50%) a good thing?
Re:More bosses give four-day workweek a try
by EpicEng on Friday February 21, 2020 @11:30PM
(#22389430)
Sorry, was only talking about the tax situation. In a progressive system each dollar is taxed at the rate of its bracket. For example (hypothetical), dollars 1-25,000 are taxed at 5%, 25,001-50,000 at 6%, 50,001-75,000 at 7%, etc. You can never gain by making less.
If you actually paid less in taxes on _every_ dollar by dropping a bracket, then you'd have been making more all along in a progressive system. Are you certain that was the case? Just curious.
Re:More bosses give four-day workweek a try
by BigJono on Saturday February 22, 2020 @12:21AM
(#22389571)
You're misunderstanding what he's saying. He got a 50% cut in salary, but because all of that comes from the higher brackets, his take home is only 35% less.
I do the same thing (Australia). Worked 9 months last year and made about ~82-85% of what I would have working the full year, rather than 75%.
Incidentally this is why progressive tax is so important for a good startup culture (and thus overall tech scene). It's a negative tax on risk. The steeper your progressive ramp, the less of your geniuses are working in shit jobs creating UI form widgets with 40 managers telling them to redo it every other day.