Minimum wage plan is faulty

Dear Editor,

Regarding the latest controversy about the raising of the minimum wage to ultimately $15.00 per hour.

I am not a small business owner in this province, and probably would not want to be considering the government policies that seem to be never ending, placed upon business owners.

With the outrageous hydro costs here because of bullheaded “green” energy plans, and now another government order to go from $11.40 per hour now to $ 15.00 in January of 2019!

If the government really cared about folks on the low end of the pay scale, why don’t they take them off the tax rolls? That in itself would be a nice raise in pay, and would give those hard working folks more to spend to better their life, and help to stimulate the economy which would benefit all of us. It is always easier for government to dictate to others who must make payroll somehow, how to run their business. Why not get some skin in the game, and show some real concern and leadership, while helping business and labour at the same time.

We all realize that taxes are a necessary evil to fund our programs and day to day needs of all of us, but why pick the pockets of the low wage earners, and then blame business for the problem?

When the raise is implemented, government gets a chunk of that again! It is a vicious cycle. Instead of forcing business to prolong this cycle of raise and tax, why not eliminate anybody off the tax rolls who earns $15.00 or less? The greedy government gets it’s share with the sales tax from these low wage earners also, so why not give them a real break? Many businesses should see more income from the extra money in the pockets of customers, and could therefore more easily give raises to low wage earners over time, instead of being forced to do it in such a short timeframe, probably causing layoffs, or hours being cut, or automation being utilized quicker to replace employees.

I think government is not the solution, usually never is, but it is a big part of the problem.

Get your hands out of their pockets!

Russ Horner