The $25 Fantasy

Latest Minimum Wage Fever Dream Will Hurt the Workers It Claims to Help

Here’s the thing about minimum wage laws that we have long talked about at The Duckpin: they don’t actually raise wages. They raise the price of hiring someone. And when you raise the price of something, people buy less of it. This isn’t a conservative talking point. It’s introductory economics, and it has been tested in labor markets repeatedly enough that pretending otherwise requires a specific kind of determination.

Maryland’s General Assembly has that kind of determination in abundance. Delegate Adrian Boafo and Senator Cory McCray have introduced HB 1229/SB 886 to raise the state minimum wage to $25 by 2030, eliminate the tip credit entirely, lock in automatic inflation adjustments forever, and constitutionalize the whole arrangement so that no future legislature can undo the damage. The “Maryland Living Wage for All” campaign calls this progress. It is, in fact, a blueprint for destroying entry-level employment in a state that is already losing residents and businesses to Virginia at a pace that should embarrass everyone in Annapolis.