Addicted to government

Taking your tax dollars—always

If you’re looking for welfare cheats, a good place to start is Wal-mart. No, not Wal-Mart shoppers. Wal-Martowners.

Wal-Mart is the largest employer of retail workers in the United States, and has the largest revenue. It is the number one Fortune 100 company.

The company is also hopelessly addicted to federal handouts.

The problem starts with low wages. Wal-Mart pays its associates the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. Working a standard 40-hour week yields an annual salary of just $13,920, keeping Wal-Mart employees well under the poverty line. Most Wal-Mart employees earn even less because Wal-Mart hires few full-time workers.

According to a Congressional study, one 200-person Wal-Mart store costs taxpayers $420,750 per year. Taxpayers foot the bill for housing assistance, lowincome tax credits and deductions, free or reduced lunches for children of employees, and low-income energy assistance, among other things.

This burden on taxpayers is not caused by people who are “lazy” or “addicted to government.” It is caused by a company that forces its employees to exist below the poverty line. With annual revenues estimated at $444.2 billion in 2011, Wal-Mart needs no government handouts.

And yet, the corporation is addicted to these handouts. Wal-Mart pursues a policy of keeping the union out so that wages remain low, ensuring that the company will continue to receive its $1.5 billion annual subsidy from taxpayers. We foot the bill for basic services that the company is too cheap to provide.