Governor Dayton proposed taxing auto-repair. Please oppose.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

8. Example numbers from me

Translators are paid by the word, either per word of source text or word of output. I used to be able to suss out the client's budget and make a per-word offer that satisfied both parties. In the past two or three years, India has gotten into Japanese-English translation in a big way, and clients have started to argue pennies per word. The competition from India, where they think that 1/3 of my standard rate gives them a great standard of living, has already taken away a lot of routine work. If I say, "I'm going to be adding x% to the final bill," I'm going to lose out.

One of the largest translation companies in the world, accounting for 50% or more of my business in some months, pays a per word rate, period. It does not accept billing for tax, which means that I would have to eat the difference.