If minimum wage doesn’t kill jobs, then “sin” taxes don’t cut smoking and drinking.
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Tonight, Downsize DC President, Jim Babka, will appear in Fort Myers, Florida. Tomorrow, he’ll be in Tampa. Specific times and places can be found HERE.
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Politicians pass “sin” taxes to discourage the use of things like tobacco and alcohol. They know that higher prices cause lower consumption. But then the politicians contradict themselves. They act like the logic behind “sin” taxes does NOT apply to the minimum wage law.
Here’s a brand new way to think about this issue…
Raising the cost of employing people must reduce the supply of jobs in the same way that “sin” taxes reduce the use of cigarettes and whiskey.
Said another way…
If minimum wage laws do NOT cause unemployment, then “sin” taxes do NOT reduce the consumption of smokes and booze.
The logic is inescapable. If a person has skills worth only $10 an hour, then an $11 minimum wage makes it illegal for that person to gain employment. Overall employment rates may NOT be affected, but the employment rates for low-skilled workers surely will be. In other words…
Minimum wage laws harm the poor. They prevent low-skilled people from gaining the experience needed to earn higher pay. This tends to make low-skilled people dependent on the political class for tax-funded support. This may explain why politicians are willing to contradict themselves. “Sin” taxes and minimum wage laws both make politicians more important and powerful, but at the cost of harming the poorest among us.
We should restore the bottom rungs of the economic ladder by ending the minimum wage law. We’ve created a new campaign for this purpose. The hardwired message to Congress for this campaign reads…
Repeal the minimum wage.
And our sample letter below offers new evidence to support our argument. Copy or edit this for your own personal comments to Congress…
Look at what’s happening in Washington state. Seattle passed a $15 minimum wage. It’s being phased in, and so far has only reached $11, but the impact is already catastrophic. A study by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Federal Reserve shows that restaurant employment has dropped by 700 jobs in Seattle while increasing by more than 5,800 in other parts of the state where the minimum wage is lower. http://bit.ly/1WlDPyA
This experiment is telling. The minimum wage destroys entry level jobs. Introduce legislation to get rid of it.
–END OF SAMPLE LETTER–
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Perry Willis & Jim Babka
Co-founders, Downsize DC