Living Wage

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Standard Tax Deduction

Increase the Standard Tax Deduction to assist those who make the lowest amount yearly. Its around 15,000 per parent right now, or 30,000 if married filing jointly. Even a few thousand increase to this amount will allow relief to be felt among those that need it most.

Minimum Wage

A minimum wage increase has issues on a national scale as the required minimum wage for Conway, Arkansas will be much lower than for New York, New York or San Francisco, CA. It makes much more sense at a city or state level to maintain their own minimum wage rather than a single, national minimum wage. Nevertheless, the current federal minimum wage is too low for even the cheapest city in America according to basic math. As such, the federal minimum wage should be increased to at least $17/hr.

Predatory Wages

Similar to Predatory Lending being illegal, the federal government should create a Predatory Wages law and this can easily work hand in hand with paying back the National Debt. In 1965, the CEO to worker pay gap was only 21-to-1. In 2022, just 60 years later, that gap has increased to 344-to-1. The government should add an additional minimum tax (Note: SCOTUS previous disallowed penalties used as tax increases, so it can't be called a "penalty tax") to the company and the top individuals at the company if any of the following occur:

-if the highest annual pay (plus bonuses and options) of an individual within the company is more than 100 times than lowest paid individual.

-if more than 20% of full or part time employees are on Welfare due to not making enough (if the government needs to subsidize the company for it to stay afloat, it is not a working company).

-if, year over year, the problem gets worse, or is not corrected, the additional minimum tax will increase

By increasing the minimum tax on the company AND the highest paid individuals, the predatory wages becomes more personal and they are more likely to correct the pay gap. At minimum, it will bring in more taxes over time to pay down the National Debt and eventually this money can be used to assist those being cheated. Likewise with these new tax increases, there can be an offer of tax deductions if certain goals are achieved, like:

-Encourage Unions. If more than 50% of the work force is in a Union, the company can be offered a tax deduction. Or a variable deduction depending on the percentage of union workers (35% union workers gives 5% deduction, 50% gives 7% reduction etc etc)

Sub-Minimum Wage

There currently exists a sub-minimum wage of $4.25/hr for those under 20 years old (for 90 days) and for those with disabilities. This wage is meant to allow work to these individuals while also giving some leniency to the company due to the loss of productivity among these workers compared to others. As the minimum wage is in need of being increased, so too should this one. (Note: this wage level was under review by the Department of Labor in late 2024 to be phased out, but in 2025, the Department of Labor decided to continue this wage level)

Likewise, tippable employees also have a sub-minimum wage of $2.13/hr. This means if an employee receives at least $30 in tips in a month, they can be paid less than a highschooler, or someone with a disability. This wage level should be removed altogether, and "tippable employees" should be making the minimum wage. Tips themselves are also a gift, not an additional earned wage, so they should not be taxed as wages provided they are under the IRS gift limit (currently an annual exclusion of $19,000). It is this wage level that has forced "tipping culture" to become as oversaturated as it is in America.