letter to the editor

Re: Bait and switch

Sat, 01/28/2017 - 7:30am

Dear Editor:

Apparently Mr. Nehring (Letters, 1/26) has never owned or run a business and does not understand how taxes work on an LLC or Subchapter S corporation. Taxes have but little to do with profit. Mr. Nehring is apparently unaware that, according to the IRS, the highest earners earn about 18 percent of the income but pay 37 percent of taxes, more than double their "fair share." He doesn't understand how wages work ... a "fair" wage is that which someone is willing to work for. Why does he think some jobs earn more than minimum wage? Is it because some business owners just feel like throwing money around? No, it is because the skills or availability of the employees have value to the employer that they can only get by paying more. Supply and demand. By artificially forcing wages higher, employers will be forced to either: a) raise prices - thus raising everyone's cost of living and obviating the value of the higher wage; or b) reduce staff hours or fire some employees - thus pushing them back on unemployment or welfare. With the double-whammy of higher minimum wage and higher taxes, businesses will be leaving and costs will go up.

He also doesn't consider the moral implications of minimum wage. By setting a minimum wage the government violates my rights as a potential employee to sell my skills and services for whatever rate I decide is appropriate. If I want to learn a skill, say to be a sailmaker, and I want to work for the summer for a sailmaker to learn a trade and am willing to do it for $2 per hour to cover the cost of gas and lunch to commute to the loft ... that should be my choice and my right. But under the law, the sailmaker has to now pay me $9 per hour, which he can't afford for someone with no skill or training so both of us lose out.

So at the end of the day, Mr. Nehring, you have hurt education, hurt employment, and hurt yourself because you will have fewer choices of where to shop and will be paying more. Well done!

Bill Hunt

Portland and Southport