Interesting columns minimum wage & taxes

http://heraldnet.com/article/20110105/OPINION04/701059989/-1/OPINION

from column:

"Meanwhile, economists have compared employment levels between 1990 and 2006 in every pair of neighboring U.S. counties that straddle the borders of states with differing minimum wage levels. The result: A better minimum wage raises earnings in low-wage jobs without any loss of employment.

"Economists have analyzed the impact of increased minimum wages during the past three recessions, including this one, and found that these better wages boosted workers’ incomes with no decrease in employment. This is a good thing for employers as well. Increased wages tend to decrease turnover, decrease recruiting costs, decrease training costs, and increase workers’ commitment to their jobs."


http://heraldnet.com/article/20110105/OPINION04/701059991/-1/OPINION

Mystery of Oregon’s missing millionaires
By Froma Harrop

conclusion:

"From 2005 to 2006, nearly 2 million Americans left the federal income tax rolls. Where did they all flee to, Mars?

"A Tax Foundation report notes that 2008 was a record year for non-payers of the federal income tax — that is, those who got back every dollar withheld from their paychecks. “Non-paying status used to be a sure sign of poverty or near-poverty,” Scott A. Hodge writes, “but Congress and the president have changed the tax laws to pull much of the middle class into the growing pool of non-payers.”

"Sure, anyone can spin a yarn about millionaire refugees lining up at the state border after a tax was raised. It’s easy. All you have to do is ignore the economy."

 

From http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2011/01/06/the-rich-can-already-call-it-a-year/


>Economist Juliet Schor explains that “the average worker [in the U.S. was] putting in 204 more hours in 2006 than in 1973.” That’s a full five weeks of extra work per year

Wonder why? Because it is cheaper for companies to pay OT than to hire additional workers?

 

The last strike at Boeing was because the production workers wanted LESS require overtime at time and a half.