Costs will rise
Cry Wolf Quotes
…this is no time to put additional burdens on employers and employees and State administrations. Recent legislation has created plenty of burdens without adding the one. It is an extremely dangerous time to discuss raising labor costs in the sense of labor costs per unit.
This bill will make it difficult for the poor baker to continue to exist, thereby making it easier for the large baker to combine with his larger brother and increase the price of bread or lower the size of the loaf, why, that is a very strong point in opposition to this bill, because the very people you are going to aid—the poor have got to be taken into consideration.
The actual fact will be, in almost every case, that the whole tax will be borne either by the employe [sic] or by the consumer through higher prices. That is the history of all such taxes. This is because the tax is imposed in such a way that, if the employer is to stay in business, he must shift the tax to some one else.
While the states signing on the dotted line will trumpet this proposal, the economic reality ... ought to be a bucket of icy cold New England water. [Now consumers will be] paying even higher prices.
Evidence
-
Regulations at Work: Five Rules that Save Workers’ Lives and Protect their Health
This paper looks at five worker-safety regulations that were tremendously successful in reducing employee injuries, illnesses and fatalities.
