WASHINGTON, DC—Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) plans to introduce a bill Sept. 5 that would force
corporations such as Amazon, Walmart and McDonald’s to pay the government the full cost of benefits for low-wage workers their employees receive. The measure would assess a 100% tax on benefits such as food stamps, public housing, and Medicaid received by workers at companies with 500 or more employees. According to an April report by The New Food Economy, one-third of Amazon employees in Arizona and more than one-tenth in Pennsylvania and Ohio were in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and Walmart and McDonald’s had more workers getting food stamps than any other employers in the five states where the group obtained records. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, whose estimated wealth has risen from $99 billion to $157 billion in the past year, “is the most egregious example,” Sanders said Aug. 21, “but the Walton family of Walmart and many other billionaire-owned profitable corporations also enrich themselves off taxpayer assistance while paying their workers poverty-level wages.” Meanwhile, Amazon has hired more than a dozen former warehouse workers as “Amazon FC Ambassadors” to make Twitter posts praising the working conditions at its fulfillment centers. Read more
