Wow, the level of economic ignorance here is off the charts.

Let's start with Paul. He thinks the opposition to increasing the minimum wage is due to the 'need' to support the big end of town. Paul, gallant social justice warrior, wants to support the little guy against the big guy by increasing minimum wages.

But the big corporations don't give a damn about minimum wages. How many people working for the banks or the big miners or big tech do you suppose are on minimum wage? Any advances on zero? Sure some big businesses employ some minimum wage staff but for the most part not. An increase in minimum wage will have little to no effect on big business and therefore they couldn't care less if it goes up.

But Paul needs to think he's battling the baddies so mere facts won't dissuade him.

As to facts, ponder this:

* over 70% of all employees work in small to medium sized business. 70%!! Small businesses are those employing less than 20 people. Your local cafe, dress retailer, corner store, restaurant.. that type of thing.

* a little shy of 80% of people on minimum wage work in retail, and food preparation and serving establishments – restaurants, cafes, dress shops, chemists etc.

When you get your coffee today you'll be served by either the owner of the store or someone he employs on minimum wage (for the most part). You won't be served by someone suppressed by big business, despite Paul's fantasies.

Now it might be all very well to want the owner of that cafe to shell out more from his pocket to help out his minimum wage employee. After all, for class-warriors like Paul, the employer is a class enemy and should be forced to pay. But the employer isn't exactly lighting cigars with dollar bills.

So the reaction of the employer might well be to apologise to his employee while explaining he can no longer pay the higher wage bill so the job is gone or the hours are cut.

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The study I linked above from Seattle shows exactly that happening. But you don't want that to be true so it’s ignored. But it’s just one among many such studies.

The Pauls of this world imagine they are battling for the little guy against the corporate giants. They are actually battling to make the little guy littler.

Now Foxy seems to think there’s a virtuous circle around the government decreeing that wages will rise.

1. Business will get a tax deduction says Foxy. Well yes, because wages are a cost and costs are deductible in the sense that they reduce profit and businesses are taxed on profit. Lower profit = lower taxes. When a butcher buys a kilo of meat to sell, the cost of that meat is a deduction. But the butcher doesn’t think that, if he paid more for the meat he’d get a bigger deduction!! The tax rate for small business is 25% (or soon will be). That means that when our café is forced to pay $1/hr more to his employee, the business’ profit declines by that dollar and his tax bill declines by 25 cents. The business is still out by $0.75
2. Foxy thinks that the employees will pay more tax on their new higher pay. But, in the main, minimum wage earners don’t pay tax because of the tax-free threshold and LITO so no extra tax for the government there.
3. So rather than “more money to spend on essential services” the government will have less. They get less tax from the café but don’t get any extra from the employee. Additionally some of those employees will no longer be employees, so higher dole payments.
4. “ People earning more money will spend more.” True. But the café owner is earning less so will spend less.
5. So no advantage for business. Quite the opposite. In the study I mentioned and also now being played out in New York where minimum wages were also increased, up to 10% of small cafes and restaurants closed because they couldn’t cover the additional costs.

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So LESS economic activity.

It’s all very easy for unscrupulous politicians to play Robin Hood to the ignorant partisans. They seem to be striving for the little guy and perhaps some of the more clueless among them really believe it. But study after study shows pretty much no one wins from government mandated increases in minimum wages and the people who suffer the most are those whom the rise was claimed to help.

Individual,

You need to analyse pricing influences.

Prices are influenced by a variety of things - government
regulations, level of demand, level of competition, market
testing, external influences, price sensitivity in the
market, changes in customer demand, they all play a part. As
does the amount of money people have to spend.

Foxy,
Yes & that also includes high end public service salaries. They're simply too high & will prevent an economic level playing field.
Or are you in the belief that someone passing on emails & waiting for the next bureaucrat to wait for an email from yet more bureaucrats is worth more than a concreter or carpenter etc. who is out in the weather all day ?

Individual,

No. I believe a decent wage for a decent day's work.
But, you can't really compare salaries of people such as
surgeons saving lives, with those unblocking sewerage pipes.
Though both are important jobs. On the whole, a higher
credential does mean higher earnings, simply because of the
value the job markets places on it.