this post was submitted on 08 Sep 2025
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Businesses aren’t people. Revenue isn’t personal income.
You’re comparing apples to oranges.
I don't care if businesses are not people. That's not the topic. The topic is why they get to deduct expenses that I am not allowed to deduct.
And the reasons why they are all explained in my example that you don’t seem to understand.
You said a bunch of things. None of them made any sense.
Try again.
Why shouldn't I be allowed to deduct my utilities and rent just like a business does.
Because you’re not a business. None of those are costs associated with your job. If you didn’t have your job you would still be paying for those things.
How do you not understand this? Do unemployed people not need to eat or pay rent?
I know. That's not relevant.
If I don't eat, if I don't have a place to live, if I can't use electricity or water or sewer I can't do my job.
If I didn't have a job I wouldn't be paying rent or utilities right?
how do they eat? Where do they get the money to eat? Do they pay taxes on that money?
As always, missed the point.
You need to eat and pay rent even when you don’t have a job, therefore they’re not costs related to your income.
How do I eat and pay rent if I don't have a job?
That requires money right?
Where do I get that money?
Do I pay taxes on that money?
Do I need to eat and stay alive in order to get that income?
This is like talking to a brick wall. If you don’t have a job you still have those costs, so that means those costs are not work related so can’t be claimed as tax deductions.
Let's see if I can break it down so that even you can understand it.
If I don't have any income I can't eat and will die.
If I have any income and I spend any of that income on food then any taxes I pay on that income I should be able to deduct the cost of that food because without that food I won't be able to pay taxes because I will be dead.
Any food I eat is absolutely related to any income I get. Without income I have no food and I die. Without food I will die and will not earn (or aquire) income. My ability to get income is 100% dependent on the cost of the food. It's absolutely related.
No food == no income.
got it?
Plenty of people don't have any income and can still eat and don't die. This alone proves you wrong.
Are you talking about children?
How do people buy food without any money?
Do you think everyone lives paycheque to paycheque?
Most people are in debt so they actually spend more than they make. NZ has amongst the highest personal debt in the world.
But your point is irrelevant.
if you have money to buy food you will need to pay taxes. If you are tapping into savings you are earning interest and that's income. if you are selling things to make ends meet that's income. If you are on the dole then that's income. Hell if people gift you things that may also be counted as income.
The point is no food == no income. If you die of starvation then you will not earn income. Any income you do earn depends 100% on you eating and staying alive.
The fact this simple fact is unable to penetrate your brain shows how much your brain has been calcified by ideology.
No, staying alive depends on eating. You don't need a job to be able to eat - people survived for thousands of years without jobs and money.
The irony is just delicious.
The fact that your argument only applies to pre human civilization era should give you a clue that it's not a good one.
Does every unemployed person just……die?
The ones that don't eat do.
Others may try and get food by other means. For example some may go on the dole and get money from the government (which they have to pay taxes on). Some may become beggars and live in the street which is actually a lot of work and technically they have to declare that income and pay taxes on it. Some may resort to crime in order to get money and again that's work and any money they earn is technically taxable. Some people may resort to prostitution in order to get money and again that is also work and is also taxable income.
But the fact that you keep denying over and over again is that people that don't eat die and that dead people are unable to work. Being employed depends 100% on being able to eat food.