Rep. Melissa Sargent, D-Madison, introduced a bill last week to increase Wisconsin’s minimum wage from the current $7.25 to $15. And while it’s easy to say that a $15 minimum wage is too much for Wisconsin, it is harder to find an actual solution.

Democrat introduces bill to increase Wisconsin minimum wage to $15 per hour

I doubt anyone really thinks Sargent’s bill will pass in the state Legislature. Hell, it might not even have passed on Madison’s Common Council had it been introduced there. But I strongly disagree with Tuesday’s column that the legislation is ridiculous. Even though the bill won’t pass, the point is not to pass the bill; it’s to bring more public attention to a problem that is only growing worse with each passing year.

Proposal to raise minimum wage to $15 would strain businesses

I don’t know if $15 is too much, but I do know the current level is too low. In order to determine what is appropriate, we must first decide what a minimum wage actually is. The core problem is minimum wage has stagnated while the U.S. economy has grown substantially. Even though full-time workers at minimum wage in 2015 have not realized the benefits of a growing economy over the last 40 years, I argue these workers should be able to afford the housing, food and transportation required to live a decent life.

Through earning $7.25 per hour at a minimum wage job, a full-time worker with no time off during the year will earn about $15,000. Taking a Congressional Budget Office-estimated 34.8 percent marginal tax rate into account, this worker’s take-home income is $9,780. The marginal tax rate is the portion of an additional dollar of income paid in taxes or offset by reduction in benefits. So, for every dollar a low-income individual earns, they only take home 65.2 cents.

Madison’s market rate one bedroom apartment is $766 per month, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Fair Market Rent Documentation System. So, factoring in housing, a full time worker at the minimum wage would spend $9,192 on housing a year, leaving $588 left over to pay for utilities, food, transportation and whatever other costs come up during the year.

Of course, there are programs — woefully underfunded thanks to both parties, but currently being eviscerated by Republicans — to help alleviate some of these costs, but they boast long wait lists or are time-sensitive. The current minimum wage is simply too low for an individual to survive on.

The primary argument against minimum wage increases is always the increase will crunch small businesses and stifle hiring. That might even be true about a $15 minimum wage, but there has to be some improvement for Wisconsin working families, even at the cost of a few lost business dollars. Illinois, Minnesota and Michigan all have higher minimum wages than Wisconsin and the “free market competition” of a lower minimum wage is not exactly driving business across the border. We still have been ranked very low in terms of job growth.

Despite the unlikelihood of a $15 minimum wage, I think Republicans should support a moderate increase of the minimum wage that is subsequently tied to inflation. If workers simply earned more money, they would not be eligible for many government programs and would be less dependent on government programs to simply get by.

If Paul Ryan’s argument that government-supported school lunch means a child has an empty soul is logical — although he’s never given a reason for us to believe that with any of his policies — then providing the parents with additional income instead of another government program could help alleviate these problems.

A minimum wage should be just that, the lowest wage a worker can earn and still survive on in our communities. Currently, these workers struggle to make ends meet, often failing through no fault of their own. While additional job training opportunities are great, and new jobs are certainly needed, these are not options for everyone. Raising the minimum wage would help alleviate that. Tying it to inflation would help guarantee it stays relevant.

Until our economy works for everyone, it works for no one.

Adam Johnson ([email protected]) is a master’s candidate at the La Follette School of Public Affairs.