Dear DC: Thank you for passing $15 minimum wage (Love, Virginia)

If the commonwealth of Virginia were to write a thank you letter commemorating the law, it could read something like this:

Dear D.C.,

We, the Commonwealth of Virginia, would like to humbly thank you for your recent passage of the law raising your minimum wage to $15 an hour. We couldn’t be more grateful to share borders with a city that is constantly trying to send us more jobs and businesses.

From your predatory parking tickets, to your 25 m.p.h. speed cameras, to your unwillingness to fix potholes, to your insane amount of paperwork to start a business, to your forced unionization policies, it’s clear you want to chase commerce south of your border to Virginia. 

With your leadership, D.C. will continue to flourish (for union bosses) and Northern Virginia will add jobs from any business that can afford to relocate.

While you might think a $15 minimum wage sounds great now, wait until you hear from colleges and the service industries, who employ thousands of young workers looking for starter jobs and side income. Now, many D.C. job creators will have to either cut workers or raise prices, in a city that is already among the most expensive in the nation to live in.

You join the ranks of Seattle, who saw the largest three-month jobs losses ever recorded when they raised their minimum wage. Luckily, unlike Seattle, you border a state where small businesses can escape, versus just firing people or going out of business.

At best, you can hope for what one bike shop company recently started doing. The shop, which owns businesses in both D.C. and Virginia, added a 13 percent “surcharge to meet the minimum wage requirement.” With your continued help, maybe soon we can get this shop to drop their surcharge, and just move their entire operation across the river.

Thank you again for the help. Next, we hope to support you in the effort to raise your minimum wage to $20 per hour.

All the Best,

The Commonwealth of Virginia