Would you be willing to work from home if you had to pay a tax to do so?

The pandemic has introduced us all to new ways of doing things. Curbside pick-up, home delivery for many of the things we use to go get ourselves, alcoholic beverages to go, social distancing, the virtual classroom and working from home. But what if you had to pay a separate tax to work from home?

According to a report from FOX44 News, experts at Deutsche Bank proposed a tax for those working from home of 5% a day, or about $10 a day for those making $55,000 a year. The reasoning is that tax could help a struggling economy bounce back.

The idea came from the bank in a report on post-COVID-19 rebuilding of the economy. They state that the tax could raise billions for the government to use for helping lower income workers who may be at risk and can't work from home. They estimate about $48 billion here in the U.S. and similar numbers in both Germany and the U.K.

Sounds crazy, right? But look at it this way: that $10 a day is what a typical worker might spend on gas to and from their job, lunch (if they eat cheap) and laundry. Let's face it: unless you have a zoom call, at-home workers are probably working in their pajamas or sweats and not needing to do as much laundry as they normally would. All of a sudden that $10 a day doesn't seem like that much.

Of course, the proposal was met with some well deserved skepticism.

“It punishes progressive companies and those with kids or caring responsibilities, who were responsible during the pandemic, who are already taking on more costs and helping the environment by staying at home,” said Andrew Hunter from Adzuna.co.uk.

I agree with Andrew. Not everyone who works from home is doing so by choice. Lots of folks do so to protect themselves and their family members from spreading the coronavirus. Some work from home because their companies have closed the offices they would normally go to. They shouldn't have to pay a tax for that.

There are other ways to help the economy rebound from the pandemic, but first let's just get through this and get people back to work safely.

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