On this tax filing weekend, thousands of local residents will come face-to-face with the reality of how little they made last year compared to how much it costs to live here in Hawaiʻi.

This is a result of Hawaiʻi’s worst in the nation minimum wage, which stifles the wages of everybody in the state.

If companies were required to pay at least a living wage for an entry level position, workers with more skills and experience would be able to demand wages well beyond that number. Due to our exploitative minimum wage, people with degrees and decades of experience are still unable to find decent paying jobs. With a higher minimum wage, all local workers will feel the benefit.

With depressed wages, there is also less income for the state to tax, leaving Hawaiʻi with one of the highest tax rates in the nation but near the bottom in actual tax revenue. This has left us with failing infrastructure and underfunded schools.

The Democratic Party platform has recognized the positive impact of raising the minimum wage and has called for increasing it to $15 per hour nationwide, but yet Hawaiʻi still sits at a paltry $10.10.

Many states and cities, both liberal and conservative, have increased their minimum wage to keep up with the cost of living. Arizona and Maine, states with Republican governors, will reach $12 per hour and beyond. California, Washington, D.C., and New York are some of the many areas that will get to $15 per hour in a few years.

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