New Study Proves $ 10.10 Minimum Wage Would Be ‘Rising Tide,’ Tartaglione Says

HARRISBURG, April 22, 2015 – Because “a rising tide lifts all boats,” state Sen. Christine M. Tartaglione said today a new study shows that if Pennsylvania finally approves a minimum wage of $ 10.10 an hour, residents in each of the state’s 67 counties will benefit.

“History has proven, time and again, that minimum wage increases do not cause widespread pain, despite the claims of critics,” Sen. Tartaglione said this morning during a press conference with Raise The Wage PA.

“The new Keystone Research Center study is one more finger in the dyke of opposition. The KRC’s work clearly shows that a higher Pennsylvania minimum would help workers who have not received a pay raise since 2007.

“When prices for food, clothing and housing have dramatically increased, the earning power of $7.25 has dropped,” Tartaglione said. “Pennsylvania cannot afford to keep minimum wage workers impoverished. We need $10.10 approved now; tipped minimum wage earners need a raise, too.”

Pennsylvania’s tipped minimum wage is $2.83 an hour and has not increased since 1999.

Senate Bill 195 would increase Pennsylvania’s minimum wage to $8.67 an hour by July 1 and $10.10 an hour by Jan. 1., while Senate Bill 196 would increase the tipped minimum to $3.95 an hour on July 1, and move it to 70 percent of the regular minimum at the start of 2016.

The other three bills in Sen. Tartaglione’s minimum wage package include:

  • Senate Bill 197, which would provide annual cost-of-living increases for minimum wage earners based on the Consumer Price Index,
  • Senate Bill 198, which would modernize the state wage payment and collection law to increase recordkeeping requirements for employers and enforcement duties of the state Department of Labor & Industry. It would also allow employees to receive back wages and two times those wages in damages, and
  • Senate Bill 199, which would prohibit employers from deducting bank fees or charges from employee tips when a customer pays their bill with a credit card.

Not only would a higher minimum wage help thousands of workers, Sen. Tartaglione said it would serve as an economic stimulus for many local Pa. economies.

While the KRC study says a $10.10 minimum wage would help 1.2 million Pennsylvania workers, it also says the raise would put nearly $2 billion into the state’s economy.

Nearly one-in-four workers in the state’s 48 rural counties and more than 700,000 workers, or 18 percent, in the state’s urban counties will benefit, Tartaglione said.

“More than 200,000 people in Philadelphia and Allegheny counties would also get a boost,” the senator said.

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Tartaglione Hails Bold Thinking; Minimum Wage, Business Support in Gov. Wolf’s $29.9 Billion Budget Proposal

HARRISBURG, March 4, 2015 – State Sen. Christine M. Tartaglione today applauded Gov. Tom Wolf for his bold and promising 2015-2016 budget proposal.

She said his willingness to push a higher minimum wage, his belief in proper education funding, his support of her idea to close the Delaware loophole, and ideas to help relieve the tax burden of Philadelphians are welcomed, overdue efforts.

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“For four years, the Republican in the governor’s office said he couldn’t afford to invest new dollars in education, couldn’t support people who need government help, and couldn’t afford to ask businesses to pay their minimum wage workers more than $7.25 an hour,” Tartaglione said. “But he could afford to protect the natural gas industry and corporate partners, and Pennsylvania has suffered because of that.”

Sen. Tartaglione said she is glad that the governor is reiterating his support of a $10.10 an hour minimum wage, as well as future minimum wage increases that are tied to a cost-of-living index.

Tartaglione has proposed Senate Bill 195 to increase the minimum wage to $10.10 by Jan. 1, 2016. Senate Bill 196 would eventually set the tipped minimum wage to 70 percent of the regular base hourly rate.

A recent study by the Keystone Research Center said an increase to $10.10 would benefit more base hourly wage earners than similar bills that would up the minimum much less (1.27 million Pennsylvanians to 404,000). It also said an increase to $10.10 would generate 6,000 new jobs; or nearly nine times more than an increase to $8.75.

Currently, a parent who works a full-time minimum-wage job and has two children is below the federal poverty line.

The Philadelphia Democrat said she is also pleased by the governor’s call to restore the $1 billion that the Corbett administration stripped from basic and higher education, and his call to finally close the Delaware loophole.

The Delaware loophole gives Pennsylvania businesses the opportunity to incorporate in Delaware so they can avoid paying PA corporate income taxes. Tartaglione’s Senate Bill 274 would close the Delaware loophole. It is awaiting action in the Senate Finance Committee.

Seventy percent of the corporations that operate in the commonwealth do not pay taxes because of the loophole, Tartaglione said. The New York Times reported that Delaware collected $860 million from absentee corporations operating in other American states in 2011, including Pennsylvania.

If the governor’s idea is accepted, closing the loophole would help the commonwealth reduce the corporate net income tax rate by 40 percent on Jan. 1 and by 50 percent over the next three years.

“Gov. Wolf’s idea to slash the CNI from 9.99 percent to 5.99 percent will more than make up for the money corporations are avoiding by formally organizing in a small post office box in Delaware,” Tartaglione said.

The senator said Pennsylvanians should accept the governor’s first budget proposal as a significant – and necessary – change in how the commonwealth governs and pays for government.

“Bad thinking and insufficient leadership got us into the sorry financial situation we are in,” she said. “We cannot accept the same approach in finding a way out. We must work on the Wolf budget and make sure it is signed into law no later than June 30.

“This is promising to be a tough battle, however, as Republicans who are in the majority in the House and Senate are already voicing their opposition,” Tartaglione said.

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Tartaglione Praises New Minimum Wage Research

HARRISBURG, Feb. 6, 2015 — The case for aggressive action on Pennsylvania’s stagnant minimum wage was made stronger today by new economic research, state Sen. Christine M. Tartaglione said.

Tartaglione praised the Keystone Research Center’s thorough comparison of her minimum wage bill (Senate Bill 195) and a watered-down version proposed by a Republican colleague.

“The research shows that weak action will yield weak results and that’s not what Pennsylvania’s working families need right now,” Tartaglione said. “The economic argument for restoring the buying power of the minimum wage is strong and so is public support.”

Tartaglione’s bill would raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour by Jan. 1, 2016.

According to the KRC researchthe proposed increase to $10.10 would benefit many more workers, provide a far bigger boost to the economy and benefit nearly three times as many adults as the lower proposed increase.”

“Measured by the positive impact on families and the economy, there’s no real comparison between these two proposals,” David Cooper, co-author of the report and senior economic analyst at the Economic Policy Institute, said. “An increase to $10.10 per hour provides a meaningful boost to Pennsylvania and Pennsylvanians. An increase to $8.75 with some youth still stuck at $7.25 does not.”

Tartaglione said the group’s work has made an already strong case for action even stronger.

“Over the next few months we’re going to be faced with a choice of whether to heed the research or listen to some tired rhetoric,” she said. “For millions of Pennsylvanians that choice is clear.

Tartaglione has introduced a sweeping series of minimum wage bills. They include:

  • Senate Bill 196, would increase from $2.83 an hour to $3.95 an hour on July 1, and would equal 70 percent of the regular minimum at the start of 2016.
  • Senate Bill 197, which would provide annual cost-of-living increases to the minimum wage based on the Consumer Price Index,
  • Senate Bill 198, which would modernize the state wage payment and collection law to increase recordkeeping requirements for employers and enforcement duties of the state Department of Labor & Industry. It would also allow employees to receive back wages and two times those wages in damages, and
  • Senate Bill 199, which would prohibit employers from deducting bank fees or charges from employee tips when a customer pays their bill with a credit card.

The full study can be found by clicking here.

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