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By J. Adrian Stanley
Colorado Springs Independent, Jan 4, 2016

The best present for many Colorado workers didn't show up under the Christmas tree — instead it will appear on their first paycheck of 2017. ...

Richard Skorman, owner of the Poor Richard's complex of restaurants and stores in north downtown, says he already pays his workers more than minimum wage, and he thinks most small business owners do the same. It's chains, he says, that usually pay minimum wage, and forcing them to pay workers more is likely to make small businesses like his more competitive.

He sees other benefits as well: Workers making a living wage stay in a job longer, letting a business avoid the costs of training someone new, and customers often bond with long-term workers. There's also the moral argument that people ought to make enough to live off (though some counter that a minimum wage was not meant to be a living wage). And finally, Skorman says, there's the basic economic theory that people who have more money will spend it — often in businesses like his.

"We hope that [workers] have more money in their pockets," he says. "It's a good thing for us and small businesses everywhere."

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