Despite impending pay raises, Wal-Mart is still relying on taxpayers to provide for its employees.
This April, half a million Wal-Mart employees will get a raise to at least $9 an hour.
For some employees, this will be a significant increase from the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. For others, the increase will be less significant. Still, it’s a step in the right direction.
But we shouldn’t be too quick to heap praise on Wal-Mart. The nation’s largest retailer — and the world’s largest company by revenue — can easily afford these wage increases.
In fact, Wal-Mart could stand to do a lot more for its employees.
Maybe you’ve seen the horror stories on Facebook. On several occasions, Wal-Mart came under fire when stores held food drives for their own employees.
It borders on the absurd. By some estimates, Wal-Mart CEO Michael Duke makes more in one day than some employees do in a year.
The company would do well to use some of those profits to ensure its workers can eat.
But the most widespread effect of Wal-Mart’s wage policy is harder to spot, and it’s costing you money.
Wal-Mart’s pay is so low that many of its workers, full-time and otherwise, are forced to rely on food stamps and Medicaid. In this way, the company places the burden of caring for its employees onto us, the taxpayers.
A report by Americans for Tax Fairness found that Wal-Mart’s employees’ dependence on government aid costs taxpayers around $6.2 billion a year.
Of course, being the world’s largest company, Wal-Mart must contribute heavily to the tax system that funds food stamps and Medicaid, right? Wrong.
Every year, the corporation exploits loopholes to avoid paying billions of dollars in taxes that would help fund its employees’ reliance on public assistance.
And where do you think employees are spending their food stamps once we pay for them? That’s right. Wal-Mart earned approximately $13 billion from food stamps alone in 2013, according to NPR.
This scheme is outrageous. It’s unfair to employees and taxpayers alike. It’s something we need to consider when talking about the minimum wage.
We often fail to consider that a low minimum wage hurts both employees and taxpayers while benefiting huge corporations.
Still, the Wal-Mart pay raise may bring other benefits. For one thing, it will place pressure on retailers such as Target and Sears to raise their wages as well. And the positive attention Wal-Mart receives may encourage the company to invest in other employee benefits such as health care.
But the company is not off the hook yet. We don’t need to wait for Wal-Mart executives to take pay cuts or start paying their taxes. We can vote in favor of a fair minimum wage that holds Wal-Mart and other retailers responsible for the wellbeing of their employees.
Furthermore, we can pressure lawmakers to close the tax loopholes that allow corporate executives to avoid paying their taxes.
We have the power to make retailers take care of their employees and stop relying on taxpayers to do so.
It’s either that, or keep paying for food stamps you didn’t know you were buying.
Alex Mendoza is a 22-year-old political science and international studies senior from Baton Rouge. You can reach him on Twitter @alexmendoza_TDR.