LETTER: Meddling lawmakers and the minimum wage

Brandon Taylor Henderson

5 years ago

McDonald's franchise employees, including Diana Diaz, center, and Lupe Guzman, right, protest f ... — McDonald’s franchise employees, including Diana Diaz, center, and Lupe Guzman, right, protest for a higher minimum wage outside of a McDonald’s on 2650 W Sahara Ave, on Wednesday, May 24, 2017, in Las Vegas. Bizuayehu Tesfaye Las Vegas Review-Journal @bizutesfaye

If a tariff is a tax on the consumer, then doesn’t it stand to reason that an artificial $15 per hour minimum wage is also a tax on the consumer?

The minimum wage has already begun its climb to $15 per hour. But those waving signs and with little understanding of macroeconomics can’t see it. When the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was passed, big, national companies announced they would reinvest the money they saved into expansion of their physical plants, creating more space and filling it with employees making no less than $15 per hour. This also forced their competitors to match their move or get left behind.

This is how you naturally raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour — not by demanding it or forcing it through legislation, which makes it an artificial number and akin to a tax on the consumer.

So to make a long story short, the Fight for $15 has been fought and won by someone who knew how to win that fight, President Donald Trump.