A plea for the self-employed | Jan 18th 2008
by Jacqueline Dooley
I used to think, naively, that choosing self-employment over traditional employment afforded me more freedom. I reasoned that by breaking away from the social and economic dependency I faced as an employee, I’d somehow become more relevant, more worthy of existence within this vast, mindless machine of unrestrained capitalism.
I was wrong. While I now have a greater earning potential than I ever did as an employee and an almost limitless flexibility with my schedule, I’m more vulnerable than ever before. And, if possible, I’m a lot less relevant – if you’re the U.S. government, that is.
U.S. Federal and State laws exist to protect employees, not freelancers. Labor laws in New York state regulate many things such as how often employees get paid, and what, if anything, gets deducted from an employee’s pay. As a freelance consultant, I’m not considered an employee, and therefore I’m not protected by the laws of the state. Sure I can sue a client for breaching a contract or violating a nondisclosure agreement, but this is at my own expense.
In addition, I face the very real possibility of IRS audits and increased accountability for every dollar earned. It makes me wonder exactly where my tax dollars are going, and why I seem to be excluded from the usual and customary protection the U.S. affords the majority of wage earning employees.
Is this fair? The revenue I generate for myself and, therefore, the government, exists because of services and deliverables I’ve created. To put it bluntly, my job wouldn’t exist if I didn’t exist and neither would my tax dollars.
I’m paying for my own healthcare. I’m paying for my child’s private school education. I’m paying federal income tax and local state tax for public schools, and service for everything from transportation to law enforcement. All I ask in return is to have the same protection as any full-time employee would.
I’m not complaining. I’m genuinely perplexed. I think self-employment is a vast new frontier, a new route towards freedom and prosperity for Americans the likes of which hasn’t existed for 100 years. But our government needs to recognize it, and nurture this growth.
I want to see subsidized healthcare for self-employed individuals in my lifetime and more protection for lost wages due to illness and injury. Above all, I hope the cost and accountability of being self employed won’t prove to be my undoing.
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This article was published in the Poughkeepsie Journal on Saturday, 12/29/07 via the title, “Regulations Taxing on Freelancers”