Raising the minimum wage will reduce the help of government for social programs because higher wages cut the need for assistance for services like food stamps. Millions of Americans rely on the government for basic needs. These needs include child care, health care, food services, etc. Most of the people who rely on the government already work full jobs and still struggle to get by. The government has to spend money to help these people when they could be spending their money on education or on poverty. Food stamps cost the government about $78 billion in 20011. Raising the minimum wage would reduce federal food stamp spending by $4.6 billion a year. “Raising …show more content…
Millions of Americans rely on the government for basic needs. These needs include child care, health care, food services, etc. Most of the people who rely on the government already work full jobs and still struggle to get by. The government has to spend money to help these people when they could be spending their money on education or on poverty. Food stamps cost the government about $78 billion in 20011. Raising the minimum wage would reduce federal food stamp spending by $4.6 billion a year. “Raising the federal minimum wage to $12 per hour by 2020 would reduce means-tested public assistance spending by $17 billion annually.”(epi.org). These savings could go towards anti poverty tools, funding for new education initiatives. The Minimum wage also reduces tax burden. A person making less than minimum wage would require food stamps, welfare and rent in many states. If the minimum wage was raised then the help from the public would be lowered which would reduce the tax burden on the