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UW study on Seattle's $15 minimum wage: Part 9—Minimum wage workers earning less under higher wage law
Supporters of increasing the minimum wage consistently argue that somehow the principles of basic economics do not apply, paradoxically insisting that increasing the cost of labor will not only not reduce the demand for that labor, but will somehow actually increase that demand.
In the real world, the indisputable fact is employers will figure out ways to economize on the high-priced labor. Some employers will embrace automation, some will favor skilled workers over less skilled applicants, while others may simply make do with a smaller work-force. Besides the anecdotal evidence of this (check out this Facebook comment from a business owner in Seattle), recent studies of minimum wage hikes in California (this one and this one) show the bottom line is fewer work hours available for the least-skilled over the long run. That is why the vast majority of studies conclude, “the most prominent employment effect of minimum wage laws is a decline in the hiring of new employees.”
A University of Washington study released this week researching the impacts of that city’s $15 minimum wage law (the third in a series of studies) is no different. And what the UW researchers found is rocking the $15 Now movement.
Read the entire blogWhy you should care about Seattle’s plan to impose an income tax
The Seattle City Council plans to impose a local income tax on “high earners” by July 10. Why should you care? Because as we have constantly seen across the country, once an income tax is in place it rarely stays targeted “on the rich.”
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While racing budget clock, don't forget the public
With eight days to go until the end of the fiscal year, where do the 2017-19 budget negotiations stand? Your guess is as good as mine. The last publicly available budget proposals had the Senate spending $43.1 billion (13% increase) relying on $1.5 billion in tax increases. The House proposal was for $44.7 billion in spending (17% increase) counting on $3 billion in tax increases. Both of these budgets blew past the nearly $42 billion in revenue taxpayers are already providing (7% increase). These budgets represent huge public investments relying on some form of tax increases and once the white smoke finally rises from the budget negotiations, taxpayers will have little time to review the details and comment before a vote is taken.
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