Oregon gas tax and minimum wage going up?

Higher wages, healthcare, taxes, all get passed down to the consumer in the form of higher prices on goods and services. Anytime you increase the cost of doing business the rich or business owners pass those cost on to the consumer. Business 101.

Sad that people don't realize that you cannot raise the minimum wage in a vacuum. If minimum wage rate is increased to $15.00 an hour, all those people making more than minimum wage now are going to want comparable increases. Someone currently making $15.00 (approx. double the current minimum) they are going to want raises to $30.00 which would be double the new rate. I mean, why have a skill or education if it doesn't make you more money than a burger flipper. Everything will rise in price. Not just your Big Mac. In the end, the buying power of the minimum wage worker will remain about the same. They can buy two $3.75 Happy meals an hour today, they will be able to buy two $7.50 happy meals 6 months after their wages go up. The cities that have drastically raised minimum wage today can do it with little bad effects because it hasn't had the ripple effects out to their suppliers who operate outside the high wage zone since the farmer, truckers, bun makers, pickle picklers and the like are still paying $7.50 to their employees in the suburbs. Make it statewide or nationwide and prices and wages will rise until they reach an equilibrium which will leave everyone with basically the same buying power as today. $15.00 an hour wages will be offset by $15.00 burgers.

Nope - if either of those were true then it would be front page news - it's not. When gas prices dropped someone mentioned that they could raise the gas tax to fix the roads but that idea lasted about 15 seconds.

Initial results in Seattle it appears that the $15 wage hasn't impacted anything.

Washington is also looking at a gas tax increase, it got the support of the GOP in the State Senate, so it's probably going to happen. While a gas tax hike is no fun, voters (and businesses) are tired of no state transport plan or funding (it's been several years). A couple years ago Oregon passed a plan to improve the I-5 bridge between OR and WA, if the Washington legislature would fund half. Instead they couldn't pass any transport plan.

It's just proposed talk in OR right now; similar tax and wage ideas have been floating around here in WA the past few months. However, the minimum wage in the Seattle area has been raised already, but still being protested.