Adam@Home by Rob Harrell for January 05, 2015

Aah, yes. After tax dollars for them, no tax for the sitter.

Wow, self employed people understand that employers, in addition to paying the hourly wage, must pay employment tax, SS, medicare, workers comp, etc. If anything Adam is a little low in his estimate.

And that leaves out the benefit to the sitter of not paying Federal, State, sometimes municipal income taxes as well as SS, etc.

My first babysitting job in the 80’s got me $10 cash for 5 hours of work and I thought I was rich! (I was only 10 years old)

And gas was 37 cents a gallon.

Well…………………….when I had my first babysitting jobs, they paid 25 cents an hour no matter how many kids there were!!!! I had a standing Saturday job for 6 hours……………I thought I was really rich! (oh, and I remember gas at 19 cents a gallon!) Boy! I’m getting old!!!

I am sure there are folks in DC and our state capitals thinking how they could capture the tax on baby sitters’ income…

Maybe she would be interested in taking her baby-sitting fees out in trade.

Are babysitters covered by the parents’ insurance or do they need their own, in case of accident?

Congress can set a minimum wage for baby-sitting that will wipe out baby-sitter poverty. Set it high enough and baby-sitters can afford to hire the unemployed as baby-sitters. No, wait, that can’t be right.

Only babysat once. 2 kids for about 4-5 hours. $4. And a $1’s worth of gas filled 1/4 of the tank. World Juniors finals today. Sweden/Slovakia just finished. Canada/Russia in 2 hours. The kids have been great!

Um – 3 × 8 = 24…so there must have been a dollar tip as well, or maybe just no $1 in her wallet when she paid the girl…and I get paid $11 an hour to tutor and mentor – not just babysit – autistic children…no benefits nor health care and the State definitely reports and taxes my wages.

Back in ’70, ’71 and ’72, my peak babysitting years, I earned 50 cents per hour for 1 – 2 children, and 75 cents per hour for 3 or more children. Back then, no one worried about withholdings, etc., because everyone understood that hiring the local junior high girl to babysit was outside the realm of employment and taxation laws. This was obviously back in the era where more people had common sense.

I was so proud of my work ethic the summer of ’72, because I worked enough hours to buy my 10-speed Western Flyer bike, which cost $75.00 + tax.

That old bike still hangs in our garden shed. My husband threatens at least once a summer to toss it to the curb for the garbage collectors to take. I remind him that (a) I keep it as a symbol of an early success, and (b) when I’m ready to get rid of it, I’ll give to to someone who will appreciate a bike.

What was great?

Another repeat from 2013 and with no preface strip to say how this started.