Here, once and for all, is why raising– or even having— a minimum wage is a dangerous idea.
Once you start creating rules that employers have to live by, you create a lot of things you maybe didn’t intend.
For example, if there are rules, then there must be inspectors to ensure the rules are being followed.
And enforcement in case they aren’t. And legal fees in case of dispute over the rules or whether they’re being followed.
And people to collect the penalties from violators. And people to count the money collected from violators.
And nice buildings for all these people to work in.
And loopholes, endless loopholes. And validation of the inspectors, to ensure they’re not on the take. Et c., et c., ad infinitum, ad nauseum.
To pay for all of this infrastructure, how much of that money is given to the people the rules were supposed to help? NONE OF IT. Read that again.
And taxes are going to go up. Okay, that’s a progressive thing, because others who are better off will help shoulder the burden (I’m against that concept personally, but I know others are not).
But that just means it’s a slightly fairer payment model for a parasitic infrastructure that should never have been created in the first place. It represents a tremendous amount of wasted, non-productive effort.
And when the cost of living does inevitably go up, those who needed the assistance are WORSE OFF than before, because to make up the same percentage in lifestyles now requires even MORE dollars– the scale has expanded, but the dollar is worth just what it was before the rise.
Tangled web? Shakespeare had NO IDEA. ;)