User Comments - bodawei

Posted on: Taxable Salary

Hi Jason

Thanks for spelling out what you had in mind for the dialogue. I still think that there is a 'problem' with this section of the dialogue:

这不是什么大问题。一般来说，去税务局开发票要交的发票税由你来承担的话，房东都会同意的。

It gives the impression that something underhand is going on, when actually if you are correct in saying that the dialogue is about reducing taxable income by increasing the rent allowance this is all perfectly legal.

It would be the employer that is telling the tax bureau how much taxable salary is being paid, and tax would be deducted at source.

That is exactly what happens in my own case, without getting into details about embarrassingly small amounts I am paid. :) My employer gives me an allowance that is considerably higher than the rent I actually pay. So I am in the same position as that contemplated by the employee in the dialogue. But there is no need for me to go the tax bureau to make a false declaration. My employer just states a taxable income that reduces my tax liability - that is the terms of my salary package. I am not required to tell my employer how much I am actually paying for rent.

It would be worth spelling this out - this is what makes tax in China different to the West, or at least Australia. The allowance would be taxable in Australia.

Supplementary question: if the dialogue is actually talking about reducing taxable income by increasing the rent allowance, why don't you say this?

BTW. Good lesson from a language point of view.

Posted on: A Stroll through the Hutongs

Hi Catherine

You can't do this in a thread because there is no image icon. And the 'paste url' method has not worked for me for some time. But as I say above you can paste the html code, and you can do that within a thread. (I've gone from dope to genius in 24 hours - xiaoliang is scared.)

Posted on: Music Corner in the Park

You talkin' about me, suuuuckerrrr?!

Anyway, I had the power, I just lost it temporarily, like I got in range of kryptonite.

Posted on: Taxable Salary

Agreed. :)

Posted on: Taxable Salary

Yes! I want to do the prison one - I would love to draft a dialogue. Of course I'd need to do some fieldwork. I have often said I wouldn't mind being detained for a limited period to check it out. It's making sure that it was limited that might be a bit tricky.

I think you might have mis-read the script - there is nothing about a rental allowance from memory. It's talking about a rental expense, and yes it is being exaggerated. But the exaggeration is not my beef. Well, in a way it is. Most foreigners would receive a rental allowance (which is tax free.) Where does that fit into the story? But we shouldn't read this lesson for the accounting. We are not paying ChinesePod for tax advice. There is another 'error' later on where it talks about 'writing something off' and getting it reimbursed. (God - are the prisons even big enough in China?!) It's okay, I am going to get the 'tax accounting' side to it explained to me tomorrow. Only cause I could be paying less tax if this is true. Yes, I know more money doesn't make me happy. I'm just pursuing it in the interests of fairness. :)

Posted on: Music Corner in the Park

thanks for the video Baba - I'm on a university computer and the Internet is too slow to play it - I'll try later.

The river was a much too cryptic attempt at code. The recent major prize awarded a Chinese citizen has prompted high alert at the GFW - I was wondering if that was why I couldn't play your first video.

Posted on: Music Corner in the Park

I'm tempted to say that you're right about everything but we don't want you getting a big head. I meant you are right in your observation that I sometimes use the Royal 'we' as though speaking for 1.3B + inhabitants of this fine land.

'can all those enchanting things really be found in Australia?'

You thought it was just all kangaroos, wombats and Holdens.

Face to face it is a bit hard to say 'we', meaning all of us living in China. But there are situations when I say that I guess. I think that some of my Chinese friends are more in love with Australia than I am.

Posted on: Music Corner in the Park

oh, 你的家乡在哪里？　是中国东北的吗？　

Posted on: Music Corner in the Park

Thanks Baba for the thought, but that site appears to be unavailable. 'We' are all a bit sensitive at the moment as you might understand. :) Does it have a picture of the Nobel River? Something has been tampering with Google in the past day or so. Or could it be Google playing with itself. Someone is toying with me, saying ..just get a VPN.

Posted on: Music Corner in the Park

Yeah, you're probably right. What is there back in Australia for me apart from my old Mum and the lure of riding my motorbike on the open road? And proper steak. Empty beaches. Surf. Oh yeah, my friends. You've brought a tear to my eye. :)