I've just read this whole thread - what a lot of ground to cover. And now you're on to discussing herbs and being peaceable, but I have to contribute my .02 anyway. I really need to check in more often, but it's been busy and I've wanted sleep...
I struggled with ExPat's notion that "Money seems to find its way into the hands of the best people that can properly manage & utilize it."
At first I thought, No! But the more I thought about it, I came to think, Yes, probably so. I mean, to the extent that I want someone in charge of something who cares about it, who has a passion for it, the people who really care about money ARE the people who should be in charge of it. I want my farmers to be farming because they love the land, they love it and they are good at it. Same for my artists and teachers and major league baseball players. Why should it be any different for money?
The problem becomes that indeed the people who really care about money do in fact accumulate it. They count it and strategize about it and not always but sometimes succeed in multiplying it. And this many times puts them into a position of power in society - look at the many US Presidents, Senators, Representatives, Governors, Mayors who hail from the millionaire class.
And then they begin to make decisions about other things outside their area of specialty. They begin to influence our housing policy, environmental law, school reform and on down the line. If only it stayed at money. Make lots of money, what do I care! But stay out of these other areas where you often know little and don't care about knowing, or where you will make the decision based on the single criterion of money because that is the only thing you know to think about.
/rant off
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Dawn that was a beautiful paragraph on behalf of the the arts. I think you are in the right job.
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So back to the practical matters - the OP stated that 50K salary meant about 770/wk take home pay. Can anyone confirm that this is accurate? I would love to have some accurate figures to set my expectations for what lies ahead. That's about 20% being withheld it would seem.
Not sure where the 40% tax figure comes from then, unless more is paid at year end or through some other means.
In the meantime I don't worry about it too much. Not sure exactly what we'll be doing, nor what we'll be making for doing it, but it will be okay. I hear you guys (mainly gals) talk about having "tea and biscuits" and I think, Imagine, I might be saying that one day soon. "How about some tea and biscuits?" And it brings a smile to my face. How do you like that - not even the tea and biscuits themselves, just talking about them! Now digestive biscuits don't sound very tasty, I must confess. It conjures some sort of a mixture of a cracker and pepto bismol, but I have been wrong before and look forward to trying one.
It is by the way inching closer - the nice NZQA assessment people have said they'd be responding shortly, and the nice London INZ people who extended the ITA for 2 months because the assessment people were taking so long will soon have their paperwork.
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