[Bartweiss]

This is mostly a good assessment, but the maintenance cost should be reduced - one part of Uber's lending program is covered routine maintenance. Gas at least should be deductible, I don't know whether the car payments can be counted in whole or in part.

The overall point is well taken, though. There are several hits to real income for Uber drivers that aren't shared by other types of low-wage worker, and while "set your own hours" offers more upside than a normal part-time job, it's limited by how many high-demand hours there are in a week. Rather than extra overtime pay, I imagine hours past her current 28 would give steadily diminishing returns.

[warfangle]

I don't think it matters if the car payments can be counted or not.

But, according to [0] (I'm not sure how accurate/reputable it is; again, IANAA), the deductible portion of $60452=$31,408 is only $2,218.90.

Gas at $5752=$2,964 already extends past that cap.

Assuming her income is taxed before the lease payments are made, and hits her full deductible, she's paying total taxes of $4,437.81

So, net after-tax, after-expense income - I didn't realize that about routine maintenance - is $604-$160-($57 - ($2,218.90/52)) - ($4,437.81/52) = $344 / wk, or $13/hr.

Compared to working multiple inflexibly-houred minimum wage jobs, it's definitely better.

But in no way is it lucrative, or even lower middle class.

[pc86]

In most of the country $13/hr is indeed lower middle class.

[evilduck]

In places where $13/hr is a viable lower middle class wage, Uber is also generally not available as a job.

[untog]

We are specifically talking about Seattle here, though. All the other variables would also be different in different parts of the country.

[dragonwriter]

> We are specifically talking about Seattle here, though.

The newspaper is from Seattle, but the driver featured in the article whose numbers were used for the calculations in this thread was actually in Los Angeles.

[untog]

Ah, I stand corrected! But either way, things like car payments, insurance vary widely by geography, so it doesn't seem like applying this particular situation nationwide would prove much.

[rayiner]

Tax deductibility doesn't matter much when you're making under $20k because your marginal rate is so low.