Nothing radicalizes you like seeing all your freelancer friends have to pay 30% taxes on their poverty wages. Everyone is out of work, under employed, underpaid if at all. There are no savings and no safety nets. Groceries cost $80 every trip. It feels like I'm bleeding to death.
Im not joking when i say that the first time i was told about independent employment taxes (which was no earlier than when i had to PAY THEM because i had an unusually successful redbubble print) it scared me off making money with my art for 10 years. I just couldnt see how it could ever be worth it
And even now when i see how it COULD be worth it, like..... the reality is still so depressing to watch. I'm making no money still but watching it happen to people i look up to and feel deserve even better than i ever did. Getting crushed year after year by an industry that hates us
