One Wisconsin Assembly Democrat is persistent in his effort to raise the state’s minimum wage.
Racine Representative Cory Mason wants to increase Wisconsin’s minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $7.60 an hour. He’ll propose a bill to that effect in the next legislative session — his fourth such attempt. His plan would also index the wage each year, to adjust for inflation.
Mason says he doubts that the Republican majority will go along with it. But he tells the Racine Journal Times that it’s better to pay people a living wage, than to make them rely on food stamps or the Earned Income Tax Credit.
Republicans have argued that increasing the minimum wage would cut jobs, especially in small businesses, and that’s something the state cannot risk in these economic times.