Stop Bad Employers by Zeroing Out Subsidies

Recently Senator Bernie Sanders introduced a bill called the Stop Bad Employers by Zeroing Out Subsidies (Stop BEZOS) Act. The bill proposes to tax employers on the amount of public assistance their full time employees receive on a dollar for dollar basis. A prime example is an Amazon warehouse employee earning minimum wage or thereabouts which could qualify them for as much as $3,000 in public assistance. Since this essentially subsidizes the highly profitable company with taxpayer funds, money collected from you and me, Sanders’ bill would tax Amazon $3,000.

Of course the simple solution would be for Amazon, Walmart and other low wage employers to simply pay their employees a living wage which is in fact the goal of the bill as stated in the bill itself and pointed out by its author and supporters. The Stop BEZOS Act isn’t so much an attempt to tax low wage employers as it is an attention getting device intended to push for higher minimum wages and corporations taking responsibility for their employees. Congressman Ro Khanna filed companion legislation in the House known as the Corporate Responsibility and Taxpayer Protection Act and makes the point that “we need to make sure that everyone is participating in the economic success”.

Low pay isn’t the only area where Amazon, Walmart and numerous other highly profitable corporations need shaming. Amazon has been reported to keep ambulances on standby at warehouses where temperatures are so high that workers routinely pass out with heat stroke. Walmart has been cited repeatedly for cheating their employees on overtime by requiring them to clock out but locking them in the store until floors are clean and shelves are stocked. It isn’t just mammoth companies that make these unjust and often illegal demands of their employees, there are many small and medium size companies which use similar tactics to increase profits at the cost of their employees.

It’s not that Amazon or Walmart are inherently evil but they’ve been allowed to become major factors in the economy and the well-being of our nation without requiring them to be responsible corporate citizens. In the 1950s and 1960s the auto industry was a major factor in the economy and while they didn’t willing act responsibly the fact that much of their workforce was unionized put a leash on their worst behaviors which enabled assembly line workers and others to enjoy a good and healthy life with a decent retirement. Amazon, Walmart and so many others operate off the union leash and their stockholders are the only beneficiaries. You and I are forced to pick up the tab to keep those employees fed while Jeff Bezos spends his unjustly accumulated riches building rockets to take him into space.

I’m not so partisan as to say that Republicans are solely responsible for skewed distribution of wealth in this country as I’m quite aware that Democrats, in particular Bill Clinton, have done their fair share to yank the wheels off the cart. Nevertheless at least many Democratic officials recognize the problem and want to address it while I’ve never heard a Republican even admit that a problem exists. I think we all know that Alcoholics Anonymous maxim – the first step is recognizing you have a problem. So given that Democrats are beginning to recognize we have a problem it is in the best interests of all to insure they’re elected this November.

You can start by voting for Beto O’Rourke for US Senate and picking every Democrat down the list.

Texas Cities Can Make a Living Wage a Reality

Walmart, McDonald’s and other low wage employers not only take advantage of their employees they also take advantage of us the tax payer even if we don’t shop their. They do it by paying wages so low that their employees qualify for and collect federal benefits like housing assistance, Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program aka food stamps. That’s because the federal minimum wage is no where near a living wage. Even in low cost areas of low cost state like Texas a 40 hour a week job at minimum wage won’t pay rent, utilities and put food on the table let alone address health care and other living expenses.

I’ll be you’re as sick as I am of our tax dollars subsidizing their profits but with the election of Donald Trump and the continuing Republican majorities in the House and Senate it is unlikely that the federal minimum wage will be raised in the next four years. The Texas governor and legislature are also Republican controlled leaving little chance that Texas will raise its minimum wage. Worse state law prohibits cities from raising their own minimum wage rates.

Cities like San Antonio and San Marcos have taken action to work around this ridiculous prohibition. In San Antonio city employees are paid a minimum of $13 per hour and the city requires all contractors to pay their employees a minimum of $13 per hour as well. That leaves an awful lot of people out of the benefit of higher wages but it’s a start. In San Marcos the city recently passed an ordinance that offers tax benefits to employers who pay at least $15 per hour.

There is nothing stopping the city of Seguin or the Seguin ISD from setting a minimum wage for all contractors doing business with them. There are other ways to increase the value of low wage workers earnings such as requiring that all employers in the city provide five days paid sick leave for every employee. In reality that actually benefits everyone since then the sick person doesn’t infect the rest of the staff or their customers. I don’t know about you but I prefer the restaurant worker handling my food to be healthy so they don’t contaminate my meal and make me sick too.

Walmart, McDonalds and other large chains often manage labor costs by shifting schedules around so that employees don’t have same schedule from one week to the next making it very difficult to plan child care, meet with children’s teachers, or see a doctor. Fast food chains are notorious for requiring their employees to work a few hours then punch out for three or four hours and then work a few more, or simply sending employees home early often preventing them from working even close to full time hours. Cities like Seguin can require that all employers in the city limits provide clarity and certainty to workers schedules.

There are ways we can make a difference at the local level but it won’t happen if you and I don’t demand it of our local officials. We must speak to our city council members and the trustees of our school districts urging them to take the actions they can to make our communities better places to work and live.

Published in the Seguin Gazette January 6, 2017

Our tax dollars shouldn't subsidize Walmart profits

On Black Friday, for the third year in a row, demonstrators gathered at Walmart’s across the nation; but this year was different because for the first time there were demonstrators at the Schertz store as well as 1500 other locations. The local demonstrators pointed out that Walmart, like too many other large and profitable companies, receives subsidies from our tax dollars because they pay the staff so poorly that many of their families qualify for and receive Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program benefits, formerly known as food stamps. Many also qualify for Medicaid and other taxpayer financed assistance.

Forbes magazine reports that Walmart accounts for $6.2 billion in such subsidies every year. Raising minimum wage to at least the poverty line would significantly reduce the $400,000 per year subsidy that an average Walmart location gets from us, the taxpayers.

In addition demonstrators called for Walmart to make more positions full time so that more employees would qualify for company health insurance benefits. Another issue discussed was unpredictable and erratic scheduling that makes it difficult to take care of family needs like doctor appointments and meetings at school.

Our 32nd president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, when explaining his support for the original minimum wage bill he signed into law said: “No business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country.” It’s long past time that our legislators end this corporate welfare.

Why are our tax dollars subsidizing highly profitable corporations?

Roughly half of all fast food workers use some form of public assistance, Medicaid, food stamps or housing assistance. 68 percent of fast-food workers are single or married adults who aren’t in school, 26 percent are raising children. Big companies that pay minimum or near minimum wage to their mostly adult employees are responsible for a high percentage of people on government assistance.

If you’re one of the 49 percent of Americans who pay federal income taxes then you are being taken advantage of by Mike Duke, CEO of Walmart, and other top executives because you’re subsidizing their profits to the tune of $7 billion every year. That’s what it takes to pay for the public assistance relied upon by their employees. McDonald's subsidy alone is worth $1.2 billion a year, which equates to more than a fifth of its 2012 profits.

If you think you pay too much in federal taxes ask Congressman Lamar Smith why he allows your tax dollars to subsidize the profits of big corporations like McDonald’s, Walmart and Papa John’s. If you think your state taxes are too high ask Senator Donna Campbell why she isn’t working to make highly profitable companies pay their employees enough that they don’t qualify for public assistance.

Wouldn’t it make more sense to stop subsidizing their profitability by raising the minimum wage so that anyone working a full time job didn’t need our tax dollars to pay for health care, food and rent?