Maryland’s Push for a $25 Minimum Wage Would Be Disastrous if it Happens

[Hoodat]

Maryland’s Push for a $25 Minimum Wage Would Be Disastrous if it Happens

Belinda Johnson  |  December 13, 2025

Activists with One Fair Wage are gathering signatures for a 2026 ballot measure that would set Maryland’s minimum wage at $25 an hour, eliminating exceptions for tipped workers and making the state the highest in the nation.

The group insists “$25 isn’t radical! It’s survival.”

Maryland already pays $15 an hour statewide, higher than the federal $7.25 and neighboring Virginia’s upcoming $12.77. Places like Washington, D.C., reach $17.95, but no state comes close to $25, which would mean over $52,000 annually for full-time work.

Rachel Greszler, a senior research fellow at The Heritage Foundation, calls the idea extreme.

“I think it’s insane. Maryland’s already trying to compete, especially with Virginia nearby, and you were losing businesses, especially the small businesses, which are disproportionately affected by high minimum wages, and to do this is just gonna exacerbate the problems that we’re having with the budget, of course, and of having good jobs for people.”

She warns that good intentions often backfire. Greszler points out that entry-level jobs help people start careers.

“You need these starting wages to be able to step onto the ladder and then be able to climb it. If that first step is $25 an hour or $52,000 a year, a lot of people would just never be able to step onto it.”

Teen employment has already fallen sharply, and this could make it worse.  .  .  .

https://economiccollapse.report/marylands-push-for-a-25-minimum-wage-would-be-disastrous-if-it-happens/


Please let this happen. Please.  And why stop at $25?  If raising the wage floor is good, then let's make it $100/hr.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

Maryland’s Push for a $25 Minimum Wage Would Be Disastrous if it Happens

Belinda Johnson  |  December 13, 2025

Activists with One Fair Wage are gathering signatures for a 2026 ballot measure that would set Maryland’s minimum wage at $25 an hour, eliminating exceptions for tipped workers and making the state the highest in the nation.

The group insists “$25 isn’t radical! It’s survival.”

Maryland already pays $15 an hour statewide, higher than the federal $7.25 and neighboring Virginia’s upcoming $12.77. Places like Washington, D.C., reach $17.95, but no state comes close to $25, which would mean over $52,000 annually for full-time work.

Rachel Greszler, a senior research fellow at The Heritage Foundation, calls the idea extreme.

“I think it’s insane. Maryland’s already trying to compete, especially with Virginia nearby, and you were losing businesses, especially the small businesses, which are disproportionately affected by high minimum wages, and to do this is just gonna exacerbate the problems that we’re having with the budget, of course, and of having good jobs for people.”

She warns that good intentions often backfire. Greszler points out that entry-level jobs help people start careers.

“You need these starting wages to be able to step onto the ladder and then be able to climb it. If that first step is $25 an hour or $52,000 a year, a lot of people would just never be able to step onto it.”

Teen employment has already fallen sharply, and this could make it worse.  .  .  .

https://economiccollapse.report/marylands-push-for-a-25-minimum-wage-would-be-disastrous-if-it-happens/


Please let this happen. Please.  And why stop at $25?  If raising the wage floor is good, then let's make it $100/hr.

Insane. These idiots don't understand what is driving inflation.

[bigheadfred]

 

[andy58-in-nh]

The advance of artificial intelligence in business is already bound to reduce many low-wage jobs. By artificially increasing the cost of labor through minimum wage laws, that trend will only be accelerated. 

Willful economic ignorance has a cost, and it is borne disproportionately by those least able to afford it.   

[Fishrrman]

A "public initiative", i.e., ballot-based?
One that the legislators and courts can't block?
And... which will "go to the voters"?

In that case...
Watch out!
Here it comes!

[GtHawk]

Insane. These idiots don't understand what is driving inflation.

Nor do they understand business and how many this ill force to shut down, nor how many people they will put out of work…I guess a socialist democrat would call har a win, win, win🤔

[Kamaji]

As I have in my signature line:  socialism is a crime against humanity.

[libertybele]

$25.00/hr to flip a burger?  Seriously??  Who in their right mind is going to pay over $25  for a burger at one of the burger joints?  That's just insane.

Disastrous?  I think increasing wages just because is stupidity.  Increase in wages should be based on merit.  With the continuing raising of minimum wage, there's no incentive for workers to do a good job and then of course there's the issue of affordability.  When does it stop?

[Kamaji]

$25/hour is the best way to incentivize automation.

[GtHawk]

$25.00/hr to flip a burger?  Seriously??  Who in their right mind is going to pay over $25  for a burger at one of the burger joints?  That's just insane.

Disastrous?  I think increasing wages just because is stupidity.  Increase in wages should be based on merit.  With the continuing raising of minimum wage, there's no incentive for workers to do a good job and then of course there's the issue of affordability.  When does it stop?

Who in their right mind? Nobody…..willingly, but when states like Californication force restaurant and fast food with a large footprint in the state to pay a $20 min for unskilled no thought(almost) work, the equipment does all the work and thinking. And the result? Higher prices, less staff doing more work, less customers, and less profit to the owners of the franchises, unless you’re Panderia and made big donations to greasy Noisome and the democrats and you miraculously become exempt……such a mystery.