Irvine City Council Abolishes Preposterous ‘Living Wage’ – Kills Biz Licensing Tax
Katy Grimes
May 31, 2015
Flexing Republican muscle, the Irvine City Council is making headway on repealing years of heavy-handed Democrat policies, which are bad for business, and worse for taxpayers.
On the heels of passage of the new Los Angeles minimum wage of $15.00 per hour by 2020, the new GOP supermajority in Irvine just repealed its “living wage” ordinance. While the rest of the state seems to be pushing for mandatory minimum wage laws, or higher minimum wage laws under Democrat majorities, killing free market principles, as well as driving up the cost of city contracts, and preventing many employable students from getting important work experience, Irvine is doing things differently.
The Irvine City Council voted last week to repeal its Living Wage Ordinance, the only of its kind in all of Orange County. Where Republicans are governing, ridiculous and burdensome top-down mandates get cut.
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Additionally, and perhaps more remarkable than the living wage repeal, the Irvine City Council did something unprecedented – they recently voted to repeal a tax. “The Business License Tax, a regressive tax, charging huge Fortune 500 companies the same as a mom and pop business, will be eliminated thereby returning almost $1 million in tax revenue to our residents,” Lalloway explained. “Now, if only other governments would follow our lead.”
Business license taxes are simply a money grab by municipalities, Lalloway said. “Businesses in Irvine are required to pay an annual $51 fee – $50 goes to the city, $1 to the state,” the Orange County Register reported. “The program nets the city nearly $1 million, but it costs about $600,000 to implement. Lalloway called the program “inefficient, and burdensome to smaller businesses.”
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