Millers reports innovation was in documenting how Wal-Marts low wages and inadequate benefits not only hurt workers directly, but impose costs on taxpayers. The report estimated that one 200-person Wal-Mart store may result in a cost to federal taxpayers of $420,750 per year about $2,103 per employee. These public costs include:
$36,000 a year for free and reduced lunches for just 50 qualifying Wal-Mart families.
$42,000 a year for Section 8 housing assistance, assuming 3 percent of the store employees qualify for such assistance, at $6,700 per family.
$125,000 a year for federal tax credits and deductions for low-income families, assuming 50 employees are heads of household with a child and 50 are married with two children.
$100,000 a year for the additional Title I [educational] expenses, assuming 50 Wal-Mart families qualify with an average of two children.
$108,000 a year for the additional federal healthcare costs of moving into state childrens health insurance programs (S-CHIP), assuming 30 employees with an average of two children qualify.
Theres no question that Wal-Mart imposes a huge, often hidden, cost on its workers, our communities and U.S. taxpayers, Miller said. And Wal-Mart is in the drivers seat in the global race to the bottom, suppressing wage levels, workplace protections and labor laws.