Increasing minimum wage may cost an extra few cents here and there, but it could earn workers hundreds more a year.
By Associated Press
Published June 4, 2004
TALLAHASSEE - Boosting the minimum wage in Florida by a dollar could put several hundred dollars a year more in the wallets of thousands of workers while costing consumers pennies, an economist said Thursday.
"A $10 meal at a restaurant ... would be $10.10," Robert Pollin told a dozen Florida analysts.
Pollin, a professor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, testified on behalf of a petition drive pushing a minimum wage ballot proposal.
Top staffers from the Legislature and Gov. Jeb Bush's office are researching the financial impact on state and local government from proposed citizen initiatives.
On Thursday, the analysts listened to supporters and opponents of two proposed constitutional amendments that they want to get on November's ballot.
One proposal would create a state minimum wage of $6.15 - $1 higher than the federal minimum wage - and require annual increases to cover inflation. The other would double Florida's $25,000 homestead exemption to $50,000.
To reach voters, the proposals must get nearly half a million supporting signatures verified by Aug. 3 and satisfy the state Supreme Court that they deal with a single subject and are fairly explained in ballot title and summary.
Pollin predicted Florida's economy would be able to absorb the increase in costs caused by the minimum wage proposal without layoffs. The impact will be greater in some sectors, such as the hotel and restaurant industry, he said.
But Steve Birtman, Florida director of the National Federation of Independent Business, warned of negative consequences.
Seven out of 10 businesses that belong to NFIB provide health benefits to workers, Birtman said. But that could change if they are forced to increase wages, he said.
And the cost of providing health care to uninsured people usually falls on taxpayers, Birtman reminded the analysts.
Doubling the state's $25,000 homestead exemption from property taxes could cost local governments $2-billion.
John French, a lawyer for the campaign, conceded the impact on the tax base would probably be significant. But he said rising property values would essentially make up the difference in just a few years and said the savings by the average homeowner - which could be $400 or $500 - would go into the economy.
But lobbyists for cities, counties and school boards said the tax burden would be shifted to other taxpayers, such as nonresidential property and higher-valued homes.
