- Domestic help's family earns Rs 1.3 lakh monthly, tax-free, from five members combined
- The maid earns Rs 30,000 monthly working full days across three households
- Family income includes wages from husband, son, daughter, and youngest son training as plumber
A Reddit post comparing the collective earnings of a family of a domestic help with that of a tax-paying salaried individual has received massive criticism on the platform. The Redditor, who lives in a tier-3 city, shared a post titled, "Our maid is richer than us now," claiming her family earns Rs 1.3 lakh per month, completely tax-free.
The user claimed their domestic help earns Rs 30,000 per month, working a full day from 9 to 5 pm across three households. Her husband, who works as a daily wage labourer, makes Rs 30,000 per month.
Their eldest son works at a saree shop, earning another Rs 30,000, while the younger daughter, who is currently in class 11, still learning tailoring, makes Rs 3,000 and is expected to earn Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 from next month, according to the post.
The youngest son, a school dropout, training as a plumber, is projected to make Rs 15,000 to Rs 25,000 monthly, according to the original poster.
The Redditor also revealed that her youngest son convinced her to buy him a Rs 50,000 to Rs 60,000 OnePlus phone, on the pretext of needing it for studies. But he only uses it for gaming and social media.
Their total family income is currently around Rs 98,000 per month, and in a few days, it is expected to jump to Rs 1.25 lakh to Rs 1.35 lakh per month and all of it tax-free.
The person further revealed that their domestic help only pays a rent of Rs 6,000 per month for a small house. They receive most of the ration for free from the government. They also own a home in their village under the PM Yojana, and they rent out that house for extra cash. They are also planning to lease their inherited land for farming and are expecting to earn Rs 30,000 to Rs 40,000 every three months or so.
"Don't get me wrong, I'm genuinely happy for her. She's worked hard and deserves every bit of it. But it does make you wonder, who really belongs to the middle class now?" the Redditor wrote.
Our maid is richer than us now ????
byu/poha-jirawan-01 inunitedstatesofindia
The post went viral and triggered a fiery debate on how this Rs 1.3 lakh a month was a cumulative earning of a five-member family and not a single person. Others pointed out that even salaried professionals earning Rs 1 lakh often fell below the taxable threshold and didn't pay income tax.
One person commented, "Like others already said, they make Rs 30K per person per month. That's way below the Rs 12.75LPA limit, so they don't need to pay tax at all."
Another wrote, "You can't compare the incomes of an entire blue-collar family against the income of a single white collar worker."
"Even if they earn 1.5LPM, it's a cumulation of the earnings of 5 people, which comes to around 30k per month for each person. They do not need to pay tax in the first place because nobody is earning above the 0 tax slab of 12.75 LPA," wrote the next.
Another commented, "They are not by any means better off than you. They are doing manual labour 9 to 12 hours a day, probably 7 days a week. Any injury or sickness means no income from that person till they recover. Also no yearly hikes or notice periods or severance pay. And your maid still has to deal with her uneducated son squandering away 2 months of her salary on a phone."
The Redditor concluded the post saying that there are clear differences between white-collar and blue-collar workers in terms of social status, lifestyle, education, and how society perceives and treats them; however, he pointed out that when it comes purely to income, they are earning around Rs 1.5 lakh per month and still not paying tax.
