Letter: Make poverty-level pay the minimum
Workers demonstrate in Brentwood, urging an increase in the state minimum wage. (April 29, 2012) Credit: Chris Ware
A recent analysis by the Long Island Association warns of a 23,000-job loss and property tax increase if the minimum wage rises to $15 an hour ["Denying $15 wage would cost jobs," News, Nov. 19]. This is one-sided fearmongering.
A 2013 congressional study found that at employers such as Walmart, wages are so low that many of its workers rely on food stamps and other government aid programs to fulfill their basic needs, a reality that cost taxpayers as much as $900,000 at just one Walmart Supercenter in Wisconsin.
If there is reluctance among business groups to raise the minimum wage to $15, then federal legislation should be passed mandating that all full-time employees must at least be paid at the federal poverty level. Employers would then be responsible for making up the difference. There's a true small government alternative.
Clifford D. Glass, Rego Park
