Thursday, December 22, 2022

Empowering Remote Work in the U.S., but local, state, and federal government obstacles persist

With the Covid-19 pandemic, remote work became widespread and accepted! It is a major labor market revolution! Video conferencing and meetings is now common place at work.

All the many worshipers of the Global Warming hoax and the Climate Change religion should sing Hallelujah! Remote work considerably reduces daily commuter traffic and automobiles exhaust!

One of the serious downsides is the more intense global competition for labor. Companies could also choose to hire more foreign remote workers.

"... New research from Stanford’s Nick Bloom shows that this substantial, three‐​year rise is the equivalent of 50 years of pre‐​pandemic remote work growth. ...
Remote work not only helped Americans weather the pandemic, but also spawned broader benefits for millions of American workers and the U.S. economy. For example, it gave many people the freedom to move and live where they want to live, not simply where their employer is located. ...
Beyond the potential wage savings, many employers derive other benefits from remote work and have thus expanded their offerings in recent years. Recent research, for example, reports that remote work can boost employee productivity and retention. Employers also have access to a larger pool of workers ...
several government policies have not kept up with the rise of remote work and thus needlessly discourage it:
State tax nexus.
While most states tax employees by their state of residence (assuming that is where they conduct their work), four states determine this “tax nexus” based on where a worker’s employer is located via the “convenience of the employer” rule. With the rise of remote work, this rule has generated interstate taxation disputes, such as when New Hampshire sued Massachusetts in 2020 because the latter’s temporary “convenience” rules taxed roughly 100,000 New Hampshire residents working for Bay State companies. These rules can also greatly increase remote workers’ tax liability and subject them to double taxation. ...
State tax withholding.
State tax withholding laws can also be a barrier for remote workers who live in a different state from their employer. ... most states require employers to withhold that state’s taxes from employees after only one day of work there. And state tax policies also make remote work difficult for employers, as well. If even just one employee works remotely from a different state, companies may now be subject to that state’s corporate and sales tax regime. ...
Federal tax uncertainty. Federal tax policy also confounds remote employees. For example, the American Institute of CPAs has voiced concerns about IRS tax treatment of remote employees that can discourage the adoption of remote work. It’s unclear, for example, whether employer‐​provided work equipment (e.g., a laptop) is a taxable form of compensation. Current policy also erroneously assumes that a worker’s home is in the same locality as his employer’s office, and that employers “gain nothing” from remote or hybrid work arrangements. Remote workers can therefore face additional tax burdens for engaging in what are now routine business transactions (e.g., regular travel to their employer’s office). ..."

Empowering Remote Work | Cato at Liberty Blog



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