This is the way that the gig economy works.

It is 1099, which means no taxes are taken out and you are responsible for them.

If you make $30,000 before taxes, you do not have $30,000 to live on.

You have to pay for your own gas and vehicle repairs. You can write them off as itemized deductions or you can take the standard mileage write-off.

You do not get the money that you spend back. The write off is deducted from your gross earnings and you still owe taxes on the rest.

If you made $30,000 and had $15,000 in deductions, you still owe taxes on the remaining $15,000.

You still had to spend the $15,000 for itemized deductions or have enough miles to claim it as a standard mileage deduction.

What you have to live on is the $30,000 minus how ever much you spent on gas and repairs even if under the standard deduction, minus how much taxes you owed on the remaining $15,000.

If I could find a job that paid enough and I did not have to use my own vehicle or work with a bunch of idiots, I would not do the gig work at all.