If American taxpayers realized their largesse was going to those who
need it least, highly-profitable corporations, they would likely put an
end to their generous ways in a…
Generosity, or largesse, is a desirable trait for most Americans in the
habit of giving freely of their assets to aid other Americans in need
without expecting anything in return. As a virtue, charity has always
been widely accepted as one of the most cherished virtues throughout
history. However, one of the primary requirements of generosity, besides
giving without expecting anything in return, is that the recipient is “
in need.”
If American taxpayers realized their largesse was going to those who
need it least, highly-profitable corporations, they would likely put an
end to their generous ways in a heartbeat.
While most American taxpayers do not object to, and
in fact are supportive of, their tax dollars going to help other
Americans in need, most taxpayers would recoil at charitable giving to
those who need for nothing. Likely most taxpayers are unaware they are
spending over $153.8 billion annually to subsidize corporate profits due
to low wages that keep millions and millions of American workers on
public assistance programs. It is that lack of awareness that prevents
massive outrage against Republicans for opposing raising the minimum
wage.
This week on tax day, April 15, workers across
America are planning to protest for higher pay and union representation
for low-wage workers living in poverty and reliant on social safety nets
to survive. The higher minimum wage protests are being organized by
Fight for 15, a national worker
movement
engaged in the uphill struggle against Republicans to raise the federal
minimum wage to $15 an hour. The federal minimum wage is a pathetic
$7.25 an hour that prevents a person working full-time at that rate from
bringing in enough income over the course of a year to live above the
federal poverty line for a family of two; with any children the poverty
level is below dire. Subsequently, workers earning minimum wage
cannot survive
without depending on at least one form of government assistance if they
are extremely frugal and pool their resources with another family.
The poverty wages Republicans claim are more than
sufficient for Americans, or too high according to Republicans who want
the minimum wage abolished, is an abomination and an insult to highly
productive American workers. They are also costing taxpayers over $153.8
billion each year according to a recently released report from the
University of California, Berkeley. The reason taxpayers are being
tasked to supplement worker wages, and provide corporate welfare
subsidies for profitable corporations, is because when hard working
families are forced to subsist on low-wage jobs just to survive, they
have little option but to depend on government social programs. These
include Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Earned
Income Tax Credit (EITC), Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF or
welfare), and food stamps low-wage workers rely on just to make ends
meet, barely.
The new Berkeley
report
examined how much the states and federal government spends on social
safety net programs and discovered that the federal government spends
about $127.8 billion per year, and states collectively spend about $26
billion per year on assistance programs for working families. Now, that
$153.8 billion a year is not only being spent to help other Americans
live, something most Americans are willing to provide for their
struggling fellow citizens, it is yet another instance of
taxpayer-funded corporate welfare. American taxpayers should not have to
subsidize businesses that are already reaping profits on the backs of
their highly-productive and low-paid workers and Americans’ tax dollars
as well.
The study, “The High Public Cost of Low Wages” found
that besides stagnant and poverty-level wages, the dearth of
employer-provided benefits mean that minimum-wage workers in the United
States are even more reliant on federal and state-run public assistance
programs than previously thought. What that means for taxpayers is that
their tax dollars are taking up the slack and subsidizing
highly-profitable corporate employers who refuse to pay a living wage;
that and only that reason is why there is a need for a federal minimum
wage in the first place. Many employers, particularly large corporate
employers will never pay decent wages without a federal minimum
requirement and since Republicans refuse to even entertain raising the
minimum, it is left to taxpayers to “bear a significant portion of the hidden costs of low-wage work in America” according to the report’s authors Ken Jacobs, Ian Perry, and Jenifer MacGillvary.
The report revealed that 73 percent of Americans
enrolled in the nation’s major assistance programs are members of
working families. It is noteworthy that the $153.8 billion of taxpayer
money spent annually is on “working families” and not, as Republicans
claim, lazy moochers who need to learn the culture and value of hard
work. After the 73 percent of Americans receiving some assistance who
are working at low-wage jobs, the rest are children, the elderly and
disabled Americans.
What is telling is that despite the recovering
economy, record corporate earnings, and robust Wall Street gains,
millions of workers are not being compensated at a rate commiserate with
economic gains at the top. According to the report’s research, when
adjusted for inflation, wage growth from 2003 to 2013 was either flat or
negative for the entire bottom 70 percent of the wage distribution. To
make matters worse, and cost to taxpayers higher, the number of
non-elderly Americans receiving insurance benefits from their employer
fell from 67 percent to 58 percent in 2013. One of the study’s
co-authors and chair of the Berkeley Labor Center said “When
companies pay too little for workers to provide for their families,
workers rely on public assistance programs to meet their basic needs.
This creates significant cost to the states.” And, a significant
savings to corporations that translates into higher corporate earnings
and greater compensation packages for CEOs.
Many Americans may think only fast food workers
impact social safety net spending, but the study revealed that
dependence on public assistance “spans a diverse range of
occupations, including fast-food workers (52%), childcare workers (46%),
home care workers (48%), and part-time college faculty (25%).” Add
in retail employers such as Walmart and Target, and it is easy to
understand why taxpayers are subsidizing corporations to the tune of
$153.8 billion annually.
A few low-wage employers, like Walmart and
McDonald’s, have announced pay raises in recent months to go into effect
in the next year or so, but workers say it is not enough and they are
hardly exaggerating. For example, McDonald’s plan to raise minimum wage
by a whopping 10 percent that still will only affect a very small
percentage of the company’s workers. Increasing the minimum wage by 10
percent will mean a worker will earn $7.98 per hour; that will still
keep an employee in dire poverty and taxpayers on the hook for $153
billion annually as opposed to $153.8 billion. McDonald’s claims it has
no control over how much its franchises pays their workers, but the
corporation is a staunch opponent of raising the federal minimum wage
and a major Republican donor.
The
majority of Americans do not oppose their hard-earned tax dollars
going to help those who need assistance and many believe Republicans are
barbaric for cutting what little low-wage earners receive now. However,
it is highly likely they oppose those tax dollars going to subsidize
payrolls of large profitable corporations that happily take the $153.8
billion in savings as higher earnings. It is a travesty that corporate
mainstream media is not reporting where taxpayer dollars funding social
safety net and assistance programs is really going, because if they did
the outrage against Republicans refusing to consider raising the minimum
wage would certainly produce results.
