Vermont is one step closer to a $15 minimum wage following a narrow yes vote in the House on Tuesday, and business owners say the development has them worried, despite the likelihood of a veto by the governor.
Last week, the House Committee on General, Housing and Military Affairs took testimony on S.40, a bill that would give Vermont a $15 minimum wage by 2024. Watch video of the committee hearings held at the Vermont Statehouse.
We are concerned about six weeks of paid family leave, we continue to oppose increasing the minimum wage, and we’re against transferring partial funding of education to a new income tax surcharge. We also oppose broad liability for toxic substances.
A single parent earning minimum wage has access to resources of roughly $45,000 a year, including benefits such as state and federal earned income tax credits, food stamps, and childcare subsidies. This is an amount roughly equivalent to the after-tax resources of someone who earns a salary of $52,000.
Why lawmakers would consider — let alone pass — a law that they know will both drag on the overall economy and have significant negative impacts on the state’s most vulnerable businesses and citizens is mind-boggling.
The House Committee on General, Housing, and Military Affairs on Wednesday examined raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, despite signals from the governor that such a measure would get a veto if gets to his desk.
Higher minimum wages actually reduced the long-run earnings of teenagers who were exposed to the higher minimum, according to a new study from the Mercatus Center.
In Arizona, the $15 minimum is predicted to result in more than 200,000 lost jobs — almost all among the state’s lowest-skilled workers.
While businesses and workers all across Vermont will be harmed if the $15 minimum wage mandate passes, the repercussions in border counties will be much more severe. Grocery stores operating in New Hampshire will have an unprecedented competitive advantage over Vermont grocery stores.
There is no more compelling evidence to bolster the warning that government is the problem, not the solution, than in the intersection of Vermont’s childcare and minimum wage policies. The Keystone Cops meets the Three Stooges could not devise a more incompetent mess.
While state lawmakers in Montpelier are pushing to make a $15 minimum wage mandatory for all businesses, one small Vermont business is showing that successful companies can offer higher wages without government intervention.
Less than 24 hours after the Senate Economic Development Committee approved a $15 minimum wage proposal, Republican leaders on Wednesday held a news conference to declare that the party is united against the bill.