Philadelphia journalist went undercover as an Uber driver — here's how much she made

[Ms. Toad]

99. You completely missed the point. Neither does an employee.

You are trashing Uber because your take-home "pay", free and clear after all expenses and taxes you have estimated is $10,000.

While that may not be a living wage, but it is considerably more than you would take home from job as an employee advertised as $10,000 - because as an employee you start with $10,000 and then subtract federal, state, and local taxes, social security taxes, and medicare, leaving you with around $8900 (assuming typical Ohio tax rates for a single person).

Pointing out that the car expenses, the fees to Uber, and the employer's half of social security have to be deducted from your gross receipts is an appropriate comparison to an employee's salary/wage. Suggesting that you should evaluate it by also also taking out federal, state, local, social security taxes, and medicare is NOT an equivalent comparison.

If you're going to talk about all the deductions to point out how bad you think it is, at least be fair and limit what you are deducting to those things which an independent contractor has to pay out of pocket that an employee doesn't (fees to Uber, vehicle expenses, and the portion of social security & medicare which are above and beyond what an employee has to pay).