Posted on 05/15/2015 3:00:42 AM PDT by raybbr
There's no doubt that levying fines against large employers that pay low wages would raise hundreds of millions of dollars for the state government, but opponents have so far held the upper hand by arguing that it would hurt the economy.
Now supporters of the plan — a bill under consideration at the state legislature — are fighting back on economic grounds, with a report due to be released Wednesday showing that the fines would create at least 532 jobs, and perhaps more than 1,000 new positions.
The bill would fine employers with 500 or more Connecticut workers $1 for each hour of work by an employee who earns less than $15. It would raise $189 million a year, according to the report, from a professor at the UConn School of Social Work and two economists who are retired from state agencies.
That figure is lower than an estimate by the legislature's nonpartisan Office of Fiscal Analysis, which pegs the state's take at as much as $305 million a year in fines from companies such as Wal-Mart, McDonald's and Target.
But the job additions? That's a new angle and it raises the stakes.
The fees would increase the number of jobs in the state economy by between 532 and 1,388, depending on how the companies that paid the penalties allocated the costs, according to the report. This would happen because government spending creates jobs more efficiently than spending on retail and fast food, the sectors most affected.
(Excerpt) Read more at courant.com ...
Seems like the comments forced them to change the headline.
The stupid is waaaaaayyyyy large in this one.
I’d just start splitting off my company into smaller companies, and create a fake business atmosphere.
“I’d just start splitting off my company into smaller companies, and create a fake business atmosphere.”
Larger companies would probably start running into fraud laws and smaller companies would increase the cost of their mandatory paperwork with each split. One of the things that makes companies profitable is the ability to spread costs over more transactions. Cut the transactions, increase the expense and lower the profit. Then there’s insurance...
Government creates wealth? Who knew? This guy Haar must be an incredible genius. We should immediately dissolve all business entities and put everybody on the gov. dole. This will create immense, immeasurable wealth. Everybody will be a multi-millionaire. (snicker)
The areas pushing these minimum wage increases seem to be those resigned to watching their good jobs/employers/workers flee, leaving them with the “poverty industry” jobs (low-wage service jobs). They need to create a tax base from that, and this will do: A wealth transfer from employers to state and federal coffers.
Wouldn’t it be better if that money got to the low-wage employees instead of to the government?
Why didn’t I think of this! It’s so easy. Obviously full employment and economic recovery can be achieved by fining private employers until they hire everyone at $15 / hour. Then, fine them until everyone makes $30 / hour; then $100 / hour. Who knew prosperity was so easy to achieve.
It doesn’t John Roberts to know that would be an illegal and discrininatory tax
And in a related story
Texas is open for business.
The average wage in Connecticut is $1238 a week...
http://www.bls.gov/regions/new-england/news-release/countyemploymentandwages_connecticut.htm
So if these idiots actually do this, companies will do a simple calcultion of the cost of the penalty verses their current labor costs and either pay the employee the difference or pay the state and then cut hours or reduce personell..
Hard to believe these representives are that stupid...
The solution for these employers will be to either close up, move out or lay off low skill workers. Whichever way they go the entry level workers lost their jobs.
Yes, stupidity can be painful.
Me to the Fascists:
“How much will you fine me for shutting down and moving out of this fascist state?”
Screwing over the job creators will create more jobs. Some people are really bat-crap crazy.
“I’d just start splitting off my company into smaller companies, and create a fake business atmosphere.”
I’d simply reduce everyone’s wage by $1 an hour. If they didn’t like that, then they can vote differently in the future. Elections have consequences.
A few years ago that glittering jewel of colossal ignorance Mark Cuban proposed that the top bracket income tax rate, the capital gains rate, and corporate tax rates, all be indexed to the unemployment rate and official poverty rate.
So if you lay off or underpay your own people, your taxes go up.
Look for that one to start gaining traction.
“I’d just start splitting off my company into smaller companies, and create a fake business atmosphere.”
I would pull my company out of Connecticut, lock, stock and barrel.
They ARE this stupid because these are Connecticut Donkeys. Punishing employers for paying wages that politicians are “fair” is a VERY bad idea whose time should not come. Otherwise, the politicians will see the iron Law of Unintended Consequences kick-in. The result will be less jobs and more businesses going under or leaving — along with the taxes paid. There ARE consequences to stupidity.
The bolder portion is Keynesian Secret Sauce rearing it’s head once again.
Amazing how quickly Keynesian Economics falls apart (at the macro level, at least) when you remove the theory that straight government redistribution (tax, then spend) behaves differently in the economy than spending by different entities.
Let’s see, a report compiled by a professor of social work and two retired state government economists. Stellar panel of experts there.
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