If MEN were in the MINIMI

I know a lot of people who have opened up their tax position in Italy to do freelance work. There are different types of these but it is easiest to divide them into two types.

1. The Tax position for low earners (who are also young, which in Italy means up to 35 years old). This is called the Regime dei Minimi and it is supposed to encourage entrepreneurialism for the young and unemployed.

2. The regular tax position which we are all generally afraid of because you pay taxes constantly, you pay them ahead, you pay them behind, you pay them during, and you never know how much of what you earn you can actually spend.

After you have been in the low-earner category for a while (under 30.000 euros annually gross), you automatically get booted into the second category (this is my case). Now, according to my accountant, for this tax position to make sense, I would have to earn roughly DOUBLE what I did last year. Hmm. Well, hey-- it's only the BEGINNING of December, right?!! There's TIME!

Well almost everyone else I know who has a tax position is in the first category (at least for now-- evil laugh). Interesting, they are ALL women. Which is great, no? Women entrepreneurs? In charge of their destiny? Rock on, ladies!

Then I thought. Wait a minute. All of these women are in the low-earning category. Hmm. And. Where are the MEN in the MINIMI? Are there any? Of course there are!

Apparently Italian MINERS are perfect candidates! 

But really, I have this terrible suspicion that those low-earning men with the same qualifications and education (or less, frankly) are actually in job positions as proper employees and getting the benefits that the rest of us do not.

This is not a new rant for me. I talked about it on my old blog here  By the way that post remains the most popular one there so apparently it struck a chord.

So the question of the day is: WHAT IF MEN WERE IN THE MINIMI?? *

I am sure the First thing that would change is the name. Surely it would become the Regime dei MAXIMI and it would be a fist-bumping, towel-snapping, ego-boosting competition between colleagues about how little time it takes to get to the Top of the category rather than sheepishly taking less work in order to stay within the limits (usually by a long shot).

I'm just saying. Maybe in the new year we need to be thinking MAXIMI rather than MINIMI. What do you think, girls?

By the way, for those of you in my advanced age range, you may get the reference to Gloria Steinem. If not, there is definitely time to get schooled. The article is called: If Men Could Menstruate. 

Highly recommended.