Opinion: When low-wage workers are paid more, everyone benefits

Heather McGhee is president of DEMOs

Is Connecticut one of the richest states in the nation? It depends on who you ask.

The Nutmeg state has one of the nation’s highest per-capita incomes, but the majority of residents have seen their real incomes decline since the Great Recession. It has the largest gap in the U.S. between the top 1 percent of taxpayers, and the bottom 99. Though it ranks as one of the hedge-fund capitals of the world, the state also contains cities like Bridgeport and Hartford, which are among the nation’s poorest.

That a state with so much wealth fails to provide for its neediest citizens isn’t just a moral issue — it’s bad public policy.

Proposed legislation making its way through the General Assembly is a pioneering attempt to change the status quo. Its premise is simple: Highly profitable corporations should pay employees a living wage, because when they don’t, those employees use state-funded healthcare and childcare. Connecticut’s taxpayers, in effect, subsidize large corporations. So this new bill gives corporations a choice: Either pay employees at least $15 per hour, or pay Connecticut a fee that will go toward providing healthcare, childcare, and other services for those workers.

See the complete story at CT News Junkie.