chore: paid contracting proposal

[arendjr]

We're considering the idea of endorsing paid contracting of core contributors. This is a first proposal on how we may wish to do this.

Please consider that freelance contracts would be private contracts between the contributor and their client, and as such Biome cannot legally enforce the terms here. We can merely offer guidance and ask for abidance such that a contract can be endorsed by the project as well.

I realize that asking for 30% of a freelancer's contract amount is a large ask, so I'm especially curious what everyone's opinion is here. Some considerations:

• If we assume a freelancer pays 40% tax, the net amount paid by the freelancer is "only" 18%.
• I do believe asking for some financial contribution from contributors benefiting from Biome is essential in preventing the project from becoming driven too much by commercial parties. By strengthening our own project funds, we may be able to afford hiring people to work for the project that are not burdened by external demands.
• Because work that benefits the roadmap is exempt from the 30% fee, people may have financial motivation to influence or push an updated roadmap. This is not necessarily all bad, getting timely roadmaps published is also a benefit to the project. I just want to point this out as something I think we should be aware of.

[ematipico]

It looks good to me. I added few suggestions. Let's wait for the rest of the team

[ematipico]

Suggested change

	roadmap, Biome asks for a 30% fee over the total amount earned through the contract. This is to
	roadmap, Biome asks for a 30% fee over the total amount earned through the contract (Total = Contractor Rate - VAT). This is to

Just in case it isn't clear enough. What do you think?

I'm not sure if we can take VAT money, because contractors may want to entire VAT for their own bookkeeping, so we should "charge" the "net" earnings.

[arendjr]

Good point 👍