When receiving paychecks, most employees will agree thatone can never be paid enough, however, their employers maydisagree with that statement and believe that they are getting paidfar greater than they are entitled to. Thus creating a conflictbetween minimum wages.
Minimum wage is the least amount ofmoney that an employer may pay their employees. The federalminimum wage that is experienced by many members of theUnited States, currently is at $5. 15, and is under debate as towhether or not it should be raised an additional dollar per hour, tomake the minimum wage $6. 15 (1).
As a result of dissatisfactionwith the minimum wage, debates whether or not the wage shouldbe lifted to please more workers are currently taking place. Theprocess to finding the perfect minimum wage to please bothemployee and employer are still under way, and has been animportant controversial issue for many decades. For many, a raise in minimum wage would be fantastic,mainly employees. For others such as employers, they look downupon the idea of increasing the salary for their workers. Theprocess for increasing the minimum wage would start by payingfifty cents more on January 1st of 2001, and adding the other fiftycents exactly one year later on January 1st of 2002 (1).
“Throughthis proposal, it would allow for business tax breaks worth $76billion dollars over ten years, which is down from $122. 7 billion inan earlier House version of the bill” (1). As unemployment hasreached a recent 30-year low, some employers are looking tochange this fact around by hiring in greater numbers (3). But asemployers may in fact do try to change this unemployment trend,this also means more money will be spent on trying to match theminimum wage.
If they should try and match the minimum wage,the employer will be spending more money just to have moreworkers that he may not need. Say the minimum wage stayed thesame for a while, employment may not be such a big problem forsome for a little while, but as inflation makes its mark, sooner orlater, minimum wage will raise. As long as salary is down, demandfor employment can raise, however, if the salary was to increase,employment opportunities for the unemployed would decrease (3). Employment would be more “stable” and more people would beemployed. In contrast, the minimum wages increased, then moreemployment cuts would be made since the employer would dislikethe fact of losing more money in pay checks, and would ratherlose staff, and have the smaller work force work harder. Many feelas though raising the minimum wage would help fight poverty, inthat raising the income, would help families to strive to move fromslums or building projects and promote them to live a richerlifestyle (3).
To help people in the working industry, minimumwages must go up to help eliminate poverty and to keepA new issue that has risen recently, is the impact upon smallbusinesses (4). With the rise in wages for employees, smallbusinesses would be greatly affected. These small businesseswouldn’t be able to handle an increase in salaries the way that alarge well-known business could. A small business could be lost asa result of the inability to continue to pay their employees at leasta minimum wage. However, there may be light at the end of theirtunnel.
A possible $76 billion dollar tax budget would be suppliedas a result of the increase in the minimum wage, which can beused to help small business overcome their predicament. Themoney would be spent in tax breaks over ten years to help providebusinesses with a deductibility of health insurance premiums(4). Nearly a 30% rise in meal deductions would be experienced(4). The amount of company equipment eligible for a write-off willincrease form $19,000 to $35,000(4). Also with small businesses, itwould “restore the law that allows a business seller to pay taxes ininstallments rather than a lump sum in the year of the sale”(4)With all of the advantages of the one dollar raise in minimumwage, it will save small businesses a lot of well earned money inthe long run.
With a rise in the amount of minimum wageincluding the addition to the $76 billion tax aid, small businesswould be able to save a small fortune dealing with healthinsurance, meal deduction, and the more favorable tax treatmentAnother issue to consider is the value of the current .
