Bill would increase Michigan minimum wage to $10 an hour

[alp227]

Source: AP

Democratic lawmakers have introduced more legislation to raise Michigan's minimum wage to $10 an hour over three years.

The current state minimum wage is $7.40 per hour.

The main sponsors of the legislation announced Thursday are Democratic Reps. John Switalksi of Warren and Rashida Tlaib of Detroit. They say raising the minimum wage would narrow income inequality and give residents "a chance at a better life." A similar bill was introduced by Senate Democrats in February.

Read more: http://theoaklandpress.com/articles/2013/04/12/news/politics/doc5167d96fa2490133073150.txt

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A poll by Progress Michigan finds 70 pct of Michiganders supporting such a measure.

[cstanleytech]

1. Why dont they just pass a higher corporate and income tax

on a business depending on the wage gap between a companies lowest paid workers vs its highest paid? Wouldnt that encourage a company to make sure they pay their people well automatically rather than continue with the game of raising minimum wage and then companies just raising their prices which just puts it back where it was before?

[Selatius]

5. Your way makes more sense. An income tax cannot be passed onto consumers like a tax on production.

A high minimum wage or even a high sales tax would be a tax on production. Those can be passed onto the consumer. A tax on income, however, cannot.

If the aim is to alleviate hardship among the working classes, higher exemptions on the first ten or twenty thousand of a person's income would make more sense without hitting consumers as well if the state has a relatively flat income tax.

In my homestate, there was a huge battle some years back to lower state income taxes in exchange for higher "sin" taxes on things like tobacco and cigarettes and a slight bump in income taxes for higher earners. Given the poverty level in my state, this would've helped, but the Republican governor shot it down instantly. Nope, we're just going to keep giving the rich a free ride and soak the poorest workers.

[DemocraticProse]

6. Interesting idea. nt

[ConcernedCanuk]

2. I'm surprised the minimum wage is much lower than that here in Ontario.

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Our minimum wage has been over $10/hr for years!

also got that free healthcare going.

for the curious, follow the link for a chart of other Canadian provinces.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_minimum_wages_in_Canada

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[Bay Boy]

3. Are you from Michigan?

What do you think the chances of this passing are?

[ConcernedCanuk]

4. Apparently not

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From his profile:

"Hometown: Ithaca, NY
Current location: San Jose, CA."

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