So Annoyed!
I finally got my first royalty cheque from Amazon and banked it. First, the bank was dubious about accepting it and told me to ask the company about direct deposit. This is what pisses me off about the system CreateSpace is using. I mean, cheques are no longer relevant. My bank is perfectly happy to accept direct deposit and New Zealand is not a third world country! I think they are being rather biased in only allowing direct deposit to American or UK authors. I did get a message from them saying it may happen in the future but that's still a maybe.
Anyway, because I'm on a benefit, I have to report every little bit of income I get. Now here's what I'm really pissed about. They say that I can earn $80 gross and anything above that, they will take 70% off my benefit. The first thing is, they do not take tax into account. As the benefit is taxed at the normal rate, anything I earn above that is counted as secondary tax. With student loan and my retirement savings, that is 35% of what I receive. Which with the royalty amount converted into $NZ is more than $35 taken out.
The benefit pays around $210 per week. Considering I pay rent of $230 a week right now, I'm left out of pocket by $20. I get an accommodation allowance of $65, so that leaves me with $45 to pay phone, power and any other bills, as well as food. I also get what's called Temporary Additional Support (TAS) so the total benefit I would get is $330 a week. That still isn't enough to pay all my bills and buy groceries.
The keyword here is temporary! If I worked part-time I lose the TAS. Then anything above that also gets taxed. So, because I've reported this piddly amount of $129 (whoop de shit!), I lose about $95 of it. So much for being able to get fucking groceries for a week. They don't give a shit either. As far as they're concerned, $25 a week is enough for one person to buy groceries. Yeah? In what fucking universe (sorry, but I'm really pissed off)? I don't eat a lot of vegies so I can't exactly go on a fucking vegetarian diet. If I were to buy one cut of meat, there's about $7 gone. So what? I only eat one meal a day and starve for two and a half days? Come on, get fucking real people! We are not living in the 1980s when $25 would feed one person for a week. There is no such thing as food stamps here.
I hate the NZ benefit system. No matter which way I look at it, I'm screwed.
Anyway, because I'm on a benefit, I have to report every little bit of income I get. Now here's what I'm really pissed about. They say that I can earn $80 gross and anything above that, they will take 70% off my benefit. The first thing is, they do not take tax into account. As the benefit is taxed at the normal rate, anything I earn above that is counted as secondary tax. With student loan and my retirement savings, that is 35% of what I receive. Which with the royalty amount converted into $NZ is more than $35 taken out.
The benefit pays around $210 per week. Considering I pay rent of $230 a week right now, I'm left out of pocket by $20. I get an accommodation allowance of $65, so that leaves me with $45 to pay phone, power and any other bills, as well as food. I also get what's called Temporary Additional Support (TAS) so the total benefit I would get is $330 a week. That still isn't enough to pay all my bills and buy groceries.
The keyword here is temporary! If I worked part-time I lose the TAS. Then anything above that also gets taxed. So, because I've reported this piddly amount of $129 (whoop de shit!), I lose about $95 of it. So much for being able to get fucking groceries for a week. They don't give a shit either. As far as they're concerned, $25 a week is enough for one person to buy groceries. Yeah? In what fucking universe (sorry, but I'm really pissed off)? I don't eat a lot of vegies so I can't exactly go on a fucking vegetarian diet. If I were to buy one cut of meat, there's about $7 gone. So what? I only eat one meal a day and starve for two and a half days? Come on, get fucking real people! We are not living in the 1980s when $25 would feed one person for a week. There is no such thing as food stamps here.
I hate the NZ benefit system. No matter which way I look at it, I'm screwed.