Job Creators Network Reacts to Minimum Wage Hearing: Raise Earnings Ceilings, Not Wage Floors

Washington, D.C. (February 24, 2021)—Today, the House Small Business Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Regulations is holding a hearing to highlight how a $15 minimum wage will impact Main Street. The Job Creators Network (JCN), a leading small business advocacy organization, opposes the drastic hike and believes lawmakers should avoid kicking Main Street while it’s down.

Small businesses will be among those most severely impacted if the federal minimum wage is more than doubled and the credit for tip income is eliminated. In fact, JCN small business members have been sharing how the policy would impact them and other entrepreneurs. Guy Berkebile, owner of Guy Chemical in Pennsylvania, recently published his perspective in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which was submitted to the subcommittee prior to the hearing. You can read it here.

Carlos Gazitua, owner of Sergio’s Family Restaurants in Florida, also went on Fox News recently to share how eliminating the credit for tip income will specifically harm restaurants across the country. In the segment, he noted that his state recently adopted a $15 minimum wage policy and it’s projected to cost his restaurant group an extra $300,000 per year. Watch the segment here.

The JCN Foundation has also erected an animated billboard in the heart of Times Square conveying how Amazon’s support for a $15 minimum wage will bulldoze Main Street. View the animation here and learn more at PrimeBusinessBuster.com.

Alfredo Ortiz, JCN President and CEO, released the following statement:

“More than doubling the federal minimum wage for entry-level workers across the board is a recipe for disaster. What works in California won’t work in Mississippi, and what works for Amazon, the largest retailer in the world, won’t work for the hardware store down the street. Higher wages for all Americans is a laudable goal, but public policy should be focused on raising earnings ceilings, not wage floors. Expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit, aka the Working Americans Credit, is one good alternative. It rewards workers via the tax code without punishing small business and costing jobs.”