The Inflexibility of the Current System
After 16 years of working as a tax law teacher at the University of Auckland I decided in January 2016 to quit my job and all the financial security it gave me for the insecurity of "something" else.
Why? Because ultimately I believe that happiness and interesting challenges in life are more important than security. Further, as someone who has just turned 60 years old and who may or may not live for some years more I wanted to follow a new dream.
This dream is for me to become a famous writer, storyteller, performer and wiccan practitioner. My university colleagues thought I was crazy and actually I feel very crazy struggling to live on $175 a week, being in debt up to the limit on my credit card and unable to get another job. However I tell myself that if I am truly walking my talk that I will have faith that it will all fall into place for me and that I will achieve my dreams if I put the energy in to create this new reality. Its scary though-especially when the new power bill arrives, along with the phone account and I have a vehicle that needs re-licencing plus we still have to eat. Its just as well the universe loves me and a little extra money turns up now and then.
After years of paying tax I felt justified signing onto the "unemployment benefit" for a temporary time until I could sort myself out but already two months have passed by and I haven't found another reliable way to make money and I am struggling to support myself, Fabrice, Bryan and the couple of wwoofers on the small amount of money that I am receiving each week.
My French partner Fabrice is doing a little part time work but hasn't been paid anything yet because we have still to get an Inland Revenue/tax number so that he can complete the necessary forms in order to get paid.
The whole system is against people easily accessing this tax number. Firstly you must have a bank account if you are to apply for a tax number. To get a bank account you must have a physical address-that sounds easy doesn't it but not so when you live in a place that doesn't see postal mail delivered directly to your house but rather you have a post box instead.
For 25 years I have lived at 109 Ashton Road, Whangateau with a postal box in Matakana and so when I went in last week to add Fabrice as a joint person on my bank account I didn't see any problem-we had a piece of paper from the Ministry of Transport for his vehicle stating the box number and the physical address but this document was not good enough for the bank. He has no bills and anyway even if he did they would still have the address of the post box. In the end the bank sent a letter addressed to him to the physical address which we picked up today at the post box (remember I said we do not get letters at the physical address) and we then took that into the bank in order to get him added to my bank account in a joint capacity.
We then went to the agent to apply for an IRD number(this was our second attempt). The agent, unlike the bank, accepted the Ministry of Transport form of Fabrice's car registration with the post box and physical address but were not so happy with the paper we had from the bank because we didn't have an actual statement showing deposits and expenses coming in and out of the account. I went a printed out the last statement from the bank but of course as we had just added Fabrice to the account this day it didn't have his name on the statement even though the number was the same as the piece of paper we had from the bank indicating he was on this bank account also. After a little arguing however the agent stamped all the papers and sent it off to the IRD so we will see if in a week we either get a tax number or a phone call querying the bank account.
One irony of today was that while we were in the bank two WWOOFers (Willing Workers on Organic Farms) came into the bank to apply for a bank account each as they also were pursuing IRD numbers-they had a letter stating their physical address but clearly (as I know the area) it was just a temporary address for where they are currently staying which could be days or a few weeks but not the 3 years that Fabrice has lived with me at 109 Ashton Road, Whangateau.
I think the current system is mad and totally inflexible-all to stop money laundering. If this was my intention I would not be adding someone to my bank account and bothering to comply with the rules of banking and tax.
I came away from this whole exercise also asking myself what do the homeless do? What if you are one of the many people living in a car or on the street. No wonder the black market flourishes and people live outside the system. Clearly the system is not there to help people who do not fit a particular box or inflexible rules!
Why? Because ultimately I believe that happiness and interesting challenges in life are more important than security. Further, as someone who has just turned 60 years old and who may or may not live for some years more I wanted to follow a new dream.
This dream is for me to become a famous writer, storyteller, performer and wiccan practitioner. My university colleagues thought I was crazy and actually I feel very crazy struggling to live on $175 a week, being in debt up to the limit on my credit card and unable to get another job. However I tell myself that if I am truly walking my talk that I will have faith that it will all fall into place for me and that I will achieve my dreams if I put the energy in to create this new reality. Its scary though-especially when the new power bill arrives, along with the phone account and I have a vehicle that needs re-licencing plus we still have to eat. Its just as well the universe loves me and a little extra money turns up now and then.
After years of paying tax I felt justified signing onto the "unemployment benefit" for a temporary time until I could sort myself out but already two months have passed by and I haven't found another reliable way to make money and I am struggling to support myself, Fabrice, Bryan and the couple of wwoofers on the small amount of money that I am receiving each week.
My French partner Fabrice is doing a little part time work but hasn't been paid anything yet because we have still to get an Inland Revenue/tax number so that he can complete the necessary forms in order to get paid.
The whole system is against people easily accessing this tax number. Firstly you must have a bank account if you are to apply for a tax number. To get a bank account you must have a physical address-that sounds easy doesn't it but not so when you live in a place that doesn't see postal mail delivered directly to your house but rather you have a post box instead.
For 25 years I have lived at 109 Ashton Road, Whangateau with a postal box in Matakana and so when I went in last week to add Fabrice as a joint person on my bank account I didn't see any problem-we had a piece of paper from the Ministry of Transport for his vehicle stating the box number and the physical address but this document was not good enough for the bank. He has no bills and anyway even if he did they would still have the address of the post box. In the end the bank sent a letter addressed to him to the physical address which we picked up today at the post box (remember I said we do not get letters at the physical address) and we then took that into the bank in order to get him added to my bank account in a joint capacity.
We then went to the agent to apply for an IRD number(this was our second attempt). The agent, unlike the bank, accepted the Ministry of Transport form of Fabrice's car registration with the post box and physical address but were not so happy with the paper we had from the bank because we didn't have an actual statement showing deposits and expenses coming in and out of the account. I went a printed out the last statement from the bank but of course as we had just added Fabrice to the account this day it didn't have his name on the statement even though the number was the same as the piece of paper we had from the bank indicating he was on this bank account also. After a little arguing however the agent stamped all the papers and sent it off to the IRD so we will see if in a week we either get a tax number or a phone call querying the bank account.
One irony of today was that while we were in the bank two WWOOFers (Willing Workers on Organic Farms) came into the bank to apply for a bank account each as they also were pursuing IRD numbers-they had a letter stating their physical address but clearly (as I know the area) it was just a temporary address for where they are currently staying which could be days or a few weeks but not the 3 years that Fabrice has lived with me at 109 Ashton Road, Whangateau.
I think the current system is mad and totally inflexible-all to stop money laundering. If this was my intention I would not be adding someone to my bank account and bothering to comply with the rules of banking and tax.
I came away from this whole exercise also asking myself what do the homeless do? What if you are one of the many people living in a car or on the street. No wonder the black market flourishes and people live outside the system. Clearly the system is not there to help people who do not fit a particular box or inflexible rules!
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