Apparently, M.C. Hammer has gone bankrupt, 25 years after his earworm hit single 'U Can't Touch This' made the world a little bit cooler. These days, he is working as a loan shark, stealing crypto from small fry. There's so many doors he could knock on but - one way or another - he decided to slammer his Hammer down on mine, today.
I didn't see that one coming and it annoyed me.
All kidding aside, I have a creative mind, as you might know. I have no clue whether M.C. Hammer is bankrupt or not or still very rich. Is he even alive?
Today I received an email from a debt collection agency, concerning some unjust debt that I thought had been dealt with by now. It annoyed me, as they asked me to reach out by phone and I didn't feel like it. I am not a phone call type and these kind of phone calls are the worst.
Knowing that the frustration and uncertainty ( about what they wanted from me ) would grow stronger if I'd postpone the issue, I decided to make some tea and ring them anyway, in order to deal with it asap.
I don't want to go too much into detail, but all this has to do with student loan debts ( from a decade and a half - and longer - ago ). I decided to take on this loan, in the last 3 years of University, as I needed more time than the required 4 years and didn't receive any money from my parents or the government any longer. It was very easy and convenient back then. Too easy, looking back on it.
For your information, I was probably depressed back then and I didn't feel able to work a job next to my graduation thesis struggle. I also wanted to have some fun, whenever I felt up for it, so some extra money was welcome.
I graduated in 2007. Due to having been fairly poor since my graduation ( I was a struggling creative with a pretty worthless degree in Film theory / film studies and tended to lose or quit jobs, over and over again ), I have hardly paid off my debt up till now. In fact, if I stay 'poor' or under the radar for another 4 years or so, I won't need to pay back any of it, the remaining debt will be waived.
How sweet would that be? :<)
Of course I aim for the latter. But - being in crypto for 4 years now - and expecting another strong run in this bull market, there is a chance that I have to pay off my debt, after all. That is, if they do find a way to touch my crypto money and start seeing it as income.
Back to today's email and call. Let's conclude that this particular bill / fine was injust. The reason it ended up on my digital door mat wasn't my fault. This debt, about two month's rent worth, here in Portugal, was the effect of a huge administration backlog at the Dutch Tax Office. They had requested info around my ( lack of ) income over 2019 and I had provided that to them, months ago. This had never been processed, apparently, even though I thought it had.
As per usual ( definitely not the first time ), they had decided that I had made a decent amount of money in 2019 ( probably still based on the job that I quit in 2016 ), while, in fact, my only money that year was from crypto ( no tax on this where I live ) and money that I inherited and invested in the renovation of the little house that I have bought in Portugal late 2018.
In the end, I think it has all been dealt with, finally. I actually even had paid a small 32 Euro fine, a week and a half ago, to just be done with it. I was tired of more phone calls.
There's a saying that you can't pluck a bald chicken. I am not a chicken thoug, I am a raptor and I'm far from bald ( pretty hairy actually ).
Nevertheless, the stuff they want to pluck isn't theirs. They have to stay away from my nest egg, I mean hard earned crypto cois.
That is probably what annoys me the most. I worked very hard, to grow my crypto portfolio over the years. I am officially a Portuguese citizen since January the 5th of 2019, I receive nothing at all from the Dutch government and have never even received any kind of allowance from them, no matter how hard I struggled.
Perhaps it was a little foolish from me to take on these student loans but hey, I was in my early to mid twenties and everybody seemed to do it. How could I know how much of a struggle my post University life would be? How could I know the economy would crash a year after my graduation? I couldn't.
It wasn't my choice to stay poor for so long. It was far from easy.
It took me a decade, after my graduation, to find crypto and, by then, I was burnt out and depressed. I then managed to change my life around and change country.
I am doing pretty well these days. I now have a little house for sale, here in Portugal. Aside from that, I am all-in in crypto. I have a decent amount of coins and keep finding new ways to grow my portfolio, in order to live and get more abundant and help more people by spreading my abundance and knowledge of crypto, among other things, as I have done for my twin sister and her family.
It feels so unfair that governments and big companies keep trying to pluck ( not so bald ) chickens like me. They should just leave me alone and focus on the big guys instead. That is where the real money is.
Seriously? What do I have, aside from a Dutch passport and the Dutch nationality? I am not even allowed to travel, if I don't test myself for the virus. So my passport isn't worth much either these days, which segways perfectly into another thing that really bothers me, and that I wrote about yesterday in Tired of Butting Heads- A Healthy Debate between Two Brothers in Times of Increasing Division. Lack of freedom and being put under pressure ( even by my own family ) is tough to deal with.
And to get back to the government and these huge money collecting companies:
Why are they still trying to get into my wallet?
The money isn't theirs and I will guard it with all my might, whenever I can. They might be sharks but I am a raptor and, as long as I don't file my nails ( I wrote about that in No More Football for Hypersensitivosaurus), it will be a hell of a job for them to get close to my crypto bags, let along take from them.
I hope you enjoy the art that my frustration has led to. I was actually planning to mainly show my creation and not write much but I just had to rant about this, as it feels so unjust, in my sensitive eyes and gut and I'm sure many of you can relate to it, one way or another. So I ended up ranting first and then creating the raptor - shark battle.
I'm curious to hear about your struggle with tax offices, debt collectors and your government. Have you got advice on how to deal with them or interesting stories to share or do you just want to get something off your chest? Feel free to share it in a comment.
Even if I say so myself, I ended up making some pretty cool art, just now. I think I might actually sell this as a NFT. Just not sure yet whether I will post it on NFT Showroom or if I will perhaps, finally, give Opensea a try. Will sleep on this.
Hey there Mr Raptor, you are doing well moving to a warmer climate, much like Van Gogh, your namesake who went to France to make art apparently. It improves the mood to be in a sunnier region.
I have never paid tax in my life, now almost 55 years old. I lived under the tax bracket my whole life with no fiat for them to even claim. Third world South Africa is much simpler in that regard. You can live easily and cheaply in fantastic climate, as long as you avoid the crime lol.
I went to university and had a government bursary to study teaching, but I quit after my second year because I couldn't stand being chained to the system. My father was obliged to pay back the bursary as a result, but I never heard from him much since we were a scattered family. Then decades later I also got a phone call from a law firm saying the debt was still outstanding. I was able to pay it back in two months since it was reduced and quite small by then thanks to inflation.
It gave me great empowerment to pay off the loan myself, and it was the one and only time in my life I was ever in a debt of any sort.
I have my art on nftshowroom as well as one on Opensea where there is more traffic, so use both to increase your odds of being seen, since Hive blockchain is very small actually.
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And we all know what happened to Van Gogh...
Just kidding ;<)
Pretty amazing that you managed to never pay tax in your life. And thanks for sharing that personal ( debt ) story with me.
I can totally understand this and if I could pay it back, I probably would but as long as I can find a loophole, in a fair / honest way, I will jump through that hoop ;<)
As shared in my last two posts, I prefer to not focus on my art for a bit, as I feel it all distracts from what I actually want to do, write my book. I still have, in the back of mind, that I want to create art around my book and feel getting that out there when my book is for sale, might be the right moment.
Cheers for your thoughtful response!
I hear you...and at least you accomplished to have a house, you are knowledgable in crypto and you left country. I don't have a house, no clue what to do with my coin(s) and still stuck in GER. Over here they want me to do a 450€ job where I can keep 160€ while the rest is taken away. Because I'm on Hartz4. Not my fault but I will not enslave myself either. I paid taxes for years for a case like that, how can they demand that you work for 2€/h. Screw you government.
Thank you for the kind words :>_
"Screw you government" indeed.
I really hope your life turns out for the better. Feel free to reach out to me, anytime ( are you on Discord? ), with questions. Who knows, I might be able to help you, one way or another.
Big hug!
Yah, I have a discord (7793). Check it once in a while, barely to be honest 😂 . But yah, add me, maybe you can help me understand it a little better one day 😊 .
Ganz lieber Gruss 🙂
Seems like you will need to add me, as discord tells me you don't accept friend requests ;>)
This is me on there: VincentNijmanZENsitivosaurus#5870
xx
P.S. I am on Discord almost daily and have been there for over 3 years now haha
I can't add you either. It won't let me 😬 It asks if everything is correct, spelling, numbers etc.
( Perhaps ) try a space between my name and the Zensitivosaurus part?
Yes! You should make this an NFT! I love it!
And it fits to your story perfectly.
I'm very grateful I don't have a contract or dept or anything left with the German government. There was a time I had to get financial support while I was studying (not nearly enough, I still had to take on a job ^^), but fortunately it was a loan that I didn't have to pay back.
I hope the sharks don't bother you anymore <3
Thank you, ana :<)
Glad you like it and I agree, I am thinking more and more that my ( NFT ) art should indeed illustrate my story, although I prefer it to illustrate my upcoming books where I prefer not to talk about the government and debts haha.
I am happy for you that you don't have any loans to haunt you. That is serious freedom.
Big hug
xx
The Dutch are pretty good at tracking down their citizens abroad for any financial related reasons. I know many Dutch retirees in Cambodia who eventually had to return to the Netherlands after many years abroad, just to sort out things so they could keep receiving their pensions/retirement savings.
Let's hope crypto is here to stay. I'm about to dive into some off-Hive investing soon, just awaiting Binance.US KYC verification at the moment. !LUV 1
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Interesting to hear that about ( The Dutch in ) Cambodia.
And yeah, they get better at tracking, apparently. My Dutch bank is reaching out to me too now, 2.5 years after I officially moved to Portugal.
Let's indeed hope that crypto is here to stay and even if it isn't, us creatives will find a way.
Much love!
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Hahahaha😂
Well, nice art, but you might have to buy it from yourself if you turn it into an nft.😂😂
I felt you throughout this story, man.
But I'd like to get it all clear: the student loan is the understanding that it would be paid only from money you make from jobs?
Are you insulting me here? ;<)
That won't help me to pay off my debt haha
Student loan indeed needs to be paid off with income. Or, to rephrase this, the money that I've received since graduation was either already taxed or tax free or I didn't make enough in a year to go over the income threshold to pay off my debts.
This threshold, is it something that is agreed on before taking the loan?
No idea. That is too long ago. I was naïve back then, I am
wiseclever now. So I do what I can not to pay them back without breaking the rules ;<)@vincentnijman, you were given LUV from @justinparke. About: https://peakd.com/@luvshares https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmUptF5k64xBvsQ9B6MjZo1dc2JwvXTWjWJAnyMCtWZxqM
( your ) extra love is always appreciated @justinparke :<)
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