Walmart Costs American Taxpayers $62 Billion Dollars Per Year

If Walmart Paid Its Employees a Living Wage, How Much Would Prices Go Up?

 The American taxpayers subsidize the share holders of Walmart $6.2 billion dollars per year so we do not have to force Walmart to pay their employees living wages.

 According to a report by Americans for Tax Fairness, Walmart's employees take billions of dollars in assistance and tax credits for just eight government programs. The eight programs studied were SNAP (food stamps), child care, Section 8, Medicaid, Earned Income Tax Credits, National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, and Energy Assistance Program.


From the report:

"Among the findings is that Walmart receives an estimated $6.2 billion annually in mostly federal taxpayer subsidies. The reason: Walmart pays its employees so little that many of them rely on food stamps, Medicaid and six other taxpayer-funded programs."

Planned increases in Walmart employee pay to $9 and $10 does little to alleviate the taxpayer burden.

"Many Walmart workers being paid $9/hour would qualify for public assistance. At $9/hour and 34 hours a week (Walmart’s definition of “full-time” work), an employee would take home just $15,912/year. This single worker would qualify for three out of five public programs for which they would be eligible. A worker with one or more children would qualify for all eight of the programs studied."

"Many Walmart workers being paid $10/hour would also qualify for public programs. A worker paid $10/hour and working 'full-time' at 34 hours a week would take home just $17,680. With two or more members in their household, this worker would qualify for all eight programs."

Raising the wages of Walmart employees would have no to little impact on prices. The Economic Policy Institute in 2006 issued a report on the connection between Walmart prices and wages. 

 

The report found: 

"While still maintaining a profit margin almost 50% greater than Costco, a key competitor, Wal-Mart could have raised the wages and benefits of each of its non-supervisory employees in 2005 by more than $2,000 without raising prices a penny."

Oh, and where do these employees spend their SNAP dollars? You guessed it - Walmart. Walmart raises its profits by not paying its employees a living wage and by taking money from the government in the form of assistance for the food of those employees.

As our country recovers from the worst recession in our history and budgets for vital services are being slashed left and right, we are sacrificing the entire country's welfare so we can subsidize the wealth of the wealthiest families in the country and the shareholders in one of the biggest companies in the world. 

Forbes Report on Walmart Study

How Much Would Prices Go Up?