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The Hidden Problem with Democrats’ $25 Minimum Wage Bill

Photo by Catherine McQueen Getty Images

The legislation would eliminate the tip credit for restaurant workers and other tipped employees—which has not worked out well in the past.

Across the country, progressive politicians continue to push for an ever-higher minimum wage. Whether it's New York City's Mamdani-led pursuit of $30 by '30, L.A.'s $30 "Olympic wage" for hotel workers, or Seattle's minimum wage for the gig economy, it's clear that the fight to raise the minimum is only escalating. Now, congressional Democrats have waded into the debate with the introduction of the Living Wage for All Act, spearheaded by Sen. Chris Murphy (D–Conn.).

Sen. Murphy's bill has garnered attention for seeking to increase the federal minimum wage from its current level at $7.25 per hour all the way up to a $25 per hour minimum in the coming years. (This would act as a wage floor, applying in any state that had a lower wage than the feds). But overlooked in the reporting so far is another key feature of the bill: its elimination of the tip credit for restaurant workers and other tipped employees.

Continue reading the entire piece here at Reason

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C. Jarrett Dieterle is a legal policy fellow for the Manhattan Institute. Kurt Huffman owns several restaurants in Oregon.