09/05/2018 05:45 am ET
Excerpt:
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) plans to introduce legislation Wednesday that would tax companies like Walmart and Amazon for every dollar their workers receive in government food or health care benefits.
The bill isn’t really about collecting funds for food stamps or Medicaid ― it’s about making a spectacle of the low pay and bad working conditions at profitable businesses.
The phenomenon of large firms leaving their workers poor enough to qualify for social safety net benefits has drawn attention from liberal policymakers since at least 2004, when congressional Democrats used payroll data to find out how many people who worked at Walmart stores also received Medicaid benefits, which are generally available to people with low incomes.
Sanders has approached the issue from a different angle. His legislation would give employers a choice: Either pay better or pay the government back for what your workers receive in Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, housing subsidies and school meals from the National School Lunch Program.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-amazon_us_5b8eecade4b0511db3dcfd55
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