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Bernie Sanders Introduces 'Stop BEZOS' Bill To Tax Amazon For Underpaying Workers (theverge.com)
A public spat between Amazon Sen. Bernie Sanders over workers' wages escalated Wednesday as the Vermont independent introduced a bill aimed at taxing big companies whose employees rely on federal benefits to make ends meet. From a report: Sanders' Stop Bad Employers by Zeroing Out Subsidies Act (abbreviated "Stop BEZOS") -- along with Khanna's House of Representatives counterpart, the Corporate Responsibility and Taxpayer Protection Act -- would institute a 100 percent tax on government benefits that are granted to workers at large companies. The bill's text characterizes this as a "corporate welfare tax," and it would apply to corporations with 500 or more employees. If workers are receiving government aid through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps), national school lunch and breakfast programs, Section 8 housing subsidies, or Medicaid, employers will be taxed for the total cost of those benefits. The bill applies to full-time and part-time employees, as well as independent contractors that are de facto company employees.
Should Amazon be responsible for the full-time worker who chooses to have half a dozen children he/she can't afford on their salary?
Nice straw man. Look at both Amazon and Wal-Mart employees. You'll see single mothers with one, maybe two children who need benefits to survive. In the Wal-Mart case, they keep most employees "part-time" because they offer benefits to ALL full-time employees and they don't actually want to offer it to very many. It's very rare to get 32+ hours as a Wal-Mart employee - which drops your wage even further below a 40-hour worker from the start, even at the same hourly rate.
Let me Google that for you. I didn't research his whole life's story for you, but there's a simple reason he's a millionaire now: he wrote a book and is banking on the royalties.
You're right, you can't. You can, per TFS, have it "apply to corporations with 500 or more employees." Just like the Family and Medical Leave Act applies to private employers with 50 or more employees.
You fell for the catchy abbreviation and didn't even read the summary, much less the first sentence of TFA ("Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) have introduced a bill that would tax companies like Amazon and Walmart for the cost of employees' food stamps and other public assistance.").
That wage includes all the very high salaried engineers in the same pool as the warehouse workers. Nobody is claiming the engineers need assistance. Its the scores of warehouse workers that need it.
I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
The average pay at an Amazon warehouse for a fulfillment worker is $12.35 per hour. Working full time that is more than $24k/year.
WIC eligibility is up to 185% of the federal poverty level, $30,451 for a family of two.
SNAP eligibility is up to 130% of the federal poverty level $21,398 for a family of two.
The federal poverty level numbers are
$12,140 for individuals
$16,460 for a family of 2
$20,780 for a family of 3
$25,100 for a family of 4
$29,420 for a family of 5
$33,740 for a family of 6
in 2018
The democrat party should lean in his direction, but letting the far left of the party drive the bus is a terrible idea.
Sanders is hardly "far left". Single-payer health care and higher tax rates on the upper class are mainstream left-wing ideas. "Far left" would be actual Communist ideas like the general population (as represented by the government) taking ownership of factories, research labs, etc. There are people in the US who support those ideas, but it's such a small minority that they are completely negligible when it comes to elections.
If you think that you're a moderate liberal and that Sanders is far left, then you're really a centrist.
Many THOUSANDS of which receive snap benefits?
Largest employer in The USA
Largest chunk of the budget of the government of the USA
And, many of the active duty service people in the different branches of the military receive welfare.
The ACA (Obamacare) mandates employer-provided health care to all full time employees. FTE defined as anyone who works an average 30 hours or more weekly over a year. It was widely predicted this would lead to an explosion of sub-30-hour weekly jobs, and it did.
you're not free so long as anyone controls your access to food, shelter and medicine. Until then you're a few meals, a rent check or a bottle of pills away from doing whatever they say.
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You seem to think that there's a surplus of employee #1 out there. There is not. Unemployment is really low, but jobs aren't paying a living wage to a lot of people right now.
The situation as it stands is that there is only employee #2 available. Companies can either suck it up and pay X to the employee and W to the government, or they can raise the wage to (X+W).
Who knows which is going to be more palatable for companies. Raising wages may get you better employees, but holding onto W until tax time might be financially more beneficial. There's always the gamble that the current legislators might change the tax law, and you can always hope that your tax lawyers can find a loophole to allow you to keep some of that cash.
Velociraptor = Distiraptor / Timeraptor
Investments don't create wealth - they capture it. Wealth is generated by the person on the factory floor making something someone will buy, or the person providing a service that someone will buy. Everything else is just a question of how that wealth gets distributed,.
--- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.