By Dan Danner
President NFIB
A number of U.S. senators—many of whom voted for Obamacare—are planning to vote to significantly increase the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour and index it to inflation, permanently. That means wages would continue to rise regardless of sales, performance, or even the ability of a business to keep its doors open.
If this idea succeeds, you’ll have to either raise your prices or trim your workforce to meet bigger payrolls. Either way, the government is forcing you to dramatically alter how you run your business.
This comes on the heels of increases to health care costs, higher taxes, more costly regulations, and now a dramatic minimum wage increase. Your business simply can’t afford another costly government mandate that disproportionately impacts small business.
Before this proposal comes to a vote, it’s urgent you share key facts with senators inclined to support a mandatory wage increase. Here is the most important message to share:
Raising the minimum wage will kill jobs and stifle economic output.
Every dollar for higher minimum wages doesn’t just magically appear. It must come from some place where it is earned, such as your small business. Increasing minimum wages means less money to create jobs, less money to invest in your business and less revenue to shore up today’s struggling economy.
Who wins when the government—not the market—artificially sets wages? Not workers, not small businesses, but instead election-minded politicians who peddle the idea and labor unions that use hikes as leverage to fatten their contracts.
Who loses? You guessed it: your business, your employees, your nation and your family. Call, text or visit senators today and tell them the facts.
Dan Danner
President and CEO, NFIB
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