http://www.pantagraph.com/business/local/state-senate-may-vote-on-minimum-wage-increase/article_2d5b1ca2-93d8-11e1-a671-0019bb2963f4.html
So the idea of a statewide $10 per hour minimum wage has been discussed in the Illinois legislature for awhile now, but it appears that the Senate committee is done deliberating and ready to put it to a vote. The story is the same as any other issue that seeks to put Illinois at an even further disadvantage to its neighbors on all sides:
- Proposed by a Chicago politician (Kim Lightford, D-Maywood) seeking to score votes by espousing to help those who will be most hurt by this bill.
- Business interests oppose it.
- The rest of the state opposes.
- Neither of the latter two factors appear to matter much.
The Problem
The money has to come from somewhere. Illinois businesses already pay some of the highest taxes around - and this goes beyond just income. Workers Comp and Unemployment Insurance are the largest two that come to mind, and guess what: they're based on taxable wages. So score a trifecta on this minimum wage hike, if approved; we business owners will not only get to pay Nic Cage more to flip burgers - we'll also get to pay more in taxes on those wages, as well!
Even more troubling is the fact that Illinois has many border communities. Should this pass, why on earth would any retailer, gas station, or service provider want to locate within the state's boundaries when they'd be required to pay the help almost $3 per hour more than they would on the other side. The guess here is this could prove to be the tipping point that decimates half of the Quad Cities, leaving just a pair behind (on the Iowa side, of course), and wipes downtrodden East St. Louis off the map entirely - or causes Illinois to officially declare it a Ward of the State.
Most bothersome of all, though, is that the people lowest on the socioeconomic ladder are going to suffer the most. While the current $8.25 an hour minimum wage is already high, it's nothing compared to what's being proposed. In order to keep someone at $10 an hour, they'd better get damn good at doing the job, and fast (a.k.a. Nic better learn how to flip one mean burger - and do it 50 times a minute), in order to justify the employer's keeping them around. Generally speaking, unskilled workers are going to have the hardest time earning the inflated wage, as the tasks they perform do not provide as much value to the customer, and thus money to the employer.
And finally the kicker: when a business has to pay 21% more for entry-level help (the amount of this wage hike), simple economics dictate that the increased cost is going to be passed on to someone else - or the business will close. Neither outcome is desirable: statewide inflation in the Consumer Price Index or a spike in unemployment as businesses consolidate and make due with as little help as possible. Even more business will be neighboring states on all sides of Illinois where sanity prevails and minimum wage hikes occur only when dictated by the federal government. And don't think these states won't actively try to recruit businesses away from Illinois even more so than they already do. Every time this state passes another asinine anti-business bill, it's as though they're providing even more ammunition for the competition.
The Solution
Stop pandering for votes and make decisions that actually dig the state out of its current mess. It's a sad testament to the depths to which Illinois government has sunk when a bill like this gets to a vote before the one seeking to repeal the scandal-plagued legislative college scholarships (still deliberately buried in committee). There are a million other more worthy initiatives to discuss - including why not to release the mentally unstable onto the streets unattended after budgets for their care have been fatally slashed - but instead these are the issues our elected officials choose to debate.
Final Word
"You can't get the right answers if you're not asking the right questions."
~ Ryan Fiala (and probably a million others before me) ~
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