“Give them their $15/hour. Fire half of them and leave the other half to work twice as hard.”
Most of these people file for the Earned Income Tax Credit. So, by raising their wage to $15 their EIC will be reduced accordingly. And, being that this is a credit and not a deduction it falls through as a dollar for a dollar. So, the net increase to these fast food workers may not be much if any. However, their labor cost will be shifted away from the tax payer (me) and to the pocketbook of the burger purchaser (not me). So, bottom line, I don’t give a flip (pun intended). Raise it!
Hah! Interesting point! The other thing is that the single parents among them will lose free health (although it will probably still be heavily supplemented) for their kids. ALso, food stamps will be significantly reduced.