Seattle minimum wage increase takes effect and eating out gets more expensive

fox news ^ | april 2, 2015 | dan springer

[lowbridge]

Eating meals out in Seattle just got more expensive as tens of thousands of low wage workers got a raise this week to $11 an hour. It was the first scheduled pay increase on the way to $15 an hour, the highest minimum wage in the country.

[jospehm20]

If I knew my server was being paid $15 an hour, I would not tip.

[GeronL]

exactly

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

You're right: government is the real winner -- but, you don't go far enough.

A lot of people will discover that they have a lower net income, after their minimum wage is increased. This phenomenon is known as the "welfare trap" (think of the trap under a sink, and you'll get the idea.

Taxes are not the only claw-back for low-income wage earners. A host of social-welfare programs have claw backs too (e.g. you pay more for Obamacare, if your gross income increases). The "effective marginal tax rate"* for low income workers, varies from over 50%, to over 150%. That's right -- take home pay can decrease as wages increase.

* If the government takes something back, that's "effectively" the same as a tax.

There's quite a bit about the "welfare trap" (aka "poverty trap") on-line. Here's a link to a good article: http://www.heritage.org/research/testimony/2013/06/what-is-minimum-wage-its-history-and-effects-on-the-economy

That article lacks good graphics. Here's a graphic that shows how net income decreases sharply, as lower wages pass a certain threshold:

[sheana]

I worked as a cocktail waitress and then bartender for many years. Usually made minimum wage or above as a bartender but I was always rolling in the dough because of my tips.
Haaaaaaaaaarrrrrrr! You can’t have both.

[PIF]

No complaints, the trustfunders will just have to take more cash out of the dresser and cash their checks more frequently ...

[PIF]

"The study would allow the city council to expand its encampment ordinance to include residential property later if when council members choose to." There goes the property values as vast areas of Seattle's once beautiful residential districts become slums and crime ridden.

[boop]

This breaks my heart. I'm a huge tipper, because I love great service.

Now, if I eat in Seattle, I'll put down "Sawant" in the tip line and give her office phone #. Beside it, I'll put what I WOULD have given.

At least Ivar's has the balls to say "no tipping".

[ltc8k6]

If Ivar’s service employees were making $60K a year, why did they need a raise?

If the end result is that they make the same amount of money, what was the point?

[jsanders2001]

> If they were already netting more than $15 an hour, why did anyone want to raise the minimum wage for them?

Liberals march lockestep to the drone of their Alinkskyte commander’s voice. They need not know what the issue is or how they feel about the issue themselves. They have geen assimilated into the collective hive. They are no longer an individual; they are legion.

[jsanders2001]

> The real beauty is that most of their tips were under the radar, but now the government sees all of that income and will gladly take half of it.

Suckers...