Monthly Archives: November 2014

What impact does a minimum wage increase have on prices?

FROM the Maine Heritage Policy Center’s Patrick Marvin on proposals to raise the minimum wage: Broadly, the concept of a minimum wage increase polls well with voters, because on the surface it seems like a common sense quick fix for a real problem to most people.  Unfortunately, this type of a change would instead cause […]

Taxes, Government Transfers, and Income Inequality

THE Congressional Budget Office recently published a report, The Distribution of Household Income and Federal Taxes, 2011, which examines incomes and taxes across income brackets from 1979 – 2011.  In short, the report found that higher earners experienced greater income gains, and government transfers and taxes helped reduce inequality. As the report notes, market income* has grown considerably for […]