American Medium members should thank me!
On March 6, I published The Economic Elephant in the Room. I did not see this article as superior to my other articles. Just another way to get some attention for my alternative democracy.
The Economic Elephant in the Room
This article could have gone “below average.” It could have gone “above average.” But I was not expecting to reach my “viral” standard of $5.00! The title is not that luring.
This article became my best earner in my six years of Medium! At the time of this writing, it has reached $128.91 and is still bringing in a dollar or two a day.
Here is a bit of my Medium report:
Elephant has garnered 1.8k reads. It must have been a worthy read, right?
But it only generated 13 comments and 765 claps. One-third clap per reader! Now that’s low appreciation.
I have concluded that most of Elephant’s readers did not like this article. Maybe my economics lesson was too heavy. Maybe my dovetailing into building a new democracy turned them off. I don’t know.
Since this article was so unliked, why did the Medium algorithms give it so much exposure? Aren’t the algorithms supposed to give us what we want to read? This is a mystery.
My Previous Best Article
In November 2022, I bashed two of Medium’s popular doomposters. You know, the writers who shout, “Your hair is on fire” and have no suggestion for what you should do about it:
Disparaging Umair & Jessica
I was expecting this article to go above average. I saw it possibly meeting my $5.00 viral threshold.
Well, Disparaging went to $66! It generated 54 comments and 1500 claps. The doomposters were popular and I took a shot at them. I had both supporters and detractors commenting. Controversy! While this was a nice surprise, it’s not hard to see why this articles did as well as it did.
Elephant has almost doubled the earnings of Disparaging — and I do not understand why. Do you?
Dave, but what about those American taxes?
My March earnings were $131. About 90% came from Elephant. The other 10% came from the other eight articles I published in March, plus earnings from pre-March articles.
So I was expecting US$131 to be converted to about C$185 and deposited to my Canadian bank account. Woo-hoo!
I got a notice that US$98 was heading my way. What gives?
I did some poking around the financial side of my Medium account. It seems that my Medium earnings are subject to a 30% withholding tax. This withholding has been happening since I joined MPP in 2021. I never noticed before because my earnings were so low.
At least three times, Medium has me fill out a form whether I am exempt from this withholding tax. The form asks questions like:
1) Are you an American citizen? No
2) Are you residing in the USA? No
3) Are you working in the USA? No
4) Are you commuting to the USA? No
5) Do you have property in the USA? No
6) Do you have business income in the USA? No
7) When was the last time you were in the USA? In 2017
8) How long did you stay? Three days
9) What was your purpose? Vacation
Every time I finished filling out this form, the software gave me no indication whether I was exempt or not.
From what I can see, no matter how I answer this form, I will never be tax exempt. I believe this saves Medium from explaining things to the IRS agents. After all, any American can answer this form in the same way I did, just to get out of paying American taxes. Much easier to declare everyone is subject to American taxes. Much better for American tax coffers.
The solution
This 1-act play below describes how I can fix my problem of paying taxes in a country in which I do not reside.
Setting: Coutts/Sweetgrass Crossing, straddling the Alberta/Montana border
Characters: Dave Volek, American Border Agent (ABA)
ABA: So Mr. Volek, what brings you to the USA today?
Dave: I have a meeting with Cheshire Accounting in Great Falls.
ABA: What’s the purpose for this meeting?
Dave: Well, I have become a successful writer. My books are selling well on Amazon. I am a top writer on Medium. But the American government is taking 30% of my revenue. Cheshire Accounting says they can help prove my non-resident status to the IRS and get this withholding tax back for me.
ABA: Sounds fair. . . . . What are you writing about?
Dave: I have an alternative democracy called the TDG. There’s already about 40 cells in the USA, including two in Montana: Missoula and Helena.
ABA: Oh? And what do these cells do?
Dave: Right now, they are just writing their own local TDG constitutions.
ABA: Constitutions?
Dave: Yeah, the rules of how they will govern themselves.
ABA: That’s it?
Dave: Eventually these TDG’s will merge with each other. Eventually the TDG will mirror state and national governance.
ABA: With new rules?
Dave: Yep. Eventually the American constitution will be replaced with the TDG constitution.
In these political crazy times, such a discussion is likely to earn me a free plane ride to the Caribbean. I will be staying at Hótel de Guantanamo Bay: free room and meals for an extended stay.
It’s unlikely I will be addressing my problem with the American withholding tax.
BTW, I still report my Medium earnings to Canada’s tax agency. So I get taxed again on the post-US-tax earnings. But this time, the tax is much less than 30%. I am probably taxed at a higher rate than rich Republicans.
If the American government did not tax me so much, I could pay more Canadian taxes!
Think about that.
Published on Medium & Substack 2025
