Taxpayers Beware: 5 Reasons You May Want the Minimum Wage Raised

Guess who picks up the tab when employers don’t give full-time workers a living wage?


(Photo: Getty Images)

http://www.takepart.com/article/2015/04/13/taxes-raising-minimum-wage

April 13, 2015 By Shaya Tayefe Mohajer

TakePart News Editor Shaya Tayefe Mohajer is a journalist who has worked in many corners of the world for major news organizations.


Keeping the minimum wage low means protecting the profits of major American industries, but the government picks up the tab for many living costs through welfare programs.

“Taxpayers bear a significant portion of the hidden costs of low-wage work in America,” as researchers from University of California, Berkeley’s Labor Center put it in their new report.

From fast food to day care, low-wage workers do what they can to make a living, but American taxpayers are helping pick up the tab where employers fall short—and it’s a huge gap to fill.

1. Low Wages Cost Everyone—Big

American taxpayers spend about $153 billion a year helping working families of low-wage earners get by. The Berkeley researchers came up with that number by accounting for spending of the largest nationwide programs that restrict benefits to low-income families.

FULL story at link.