May be of interest to some... https://www.washingtonpost.com/busi...ax-haven-south-dakota/?itid=hp-top-table-high
- Thread starter mountainannie
- Start date
Front Page - WaPo- Tax Sheltered Money from the DR
Amazing.
The sisters are filthy rich yet they treat and pay their workers a sub-human wage.
Don't they have a conscience?
The sisters are filthy rich yet they treat and pay their workers a sub-human wage.
Don't they have a conscience?
I guess a wage of around $125.00 a month for the brutal work of cutting sugar cane is more than enough.
LMFAO
Try opening it in an incognito window on your browser. It's a brilliant piece of reporting--I really like how they did it with all of the interviews and multimedia footage.
If you believe that than you believe anything. Hey maybe you can throw them some cash and boycott sugar. It has always been stylish to slam the sugar cane industry. Why is it that there is never outrage against shoeshine people and dishwashers. It's just not sexy that's why. Just one of countless guilt pieces by the Wash Post,which is owned by Jeff Bezos the richest man in the world.
I take it you are one of those "people with money"?
Do you believe that $125 a month is a fair wage for any large corporation to pay someone?
I worked for $1.05 an hour when I first started working at 16. It wasn't much but I wasn't bringing much in the form of skills or education to the table. I accepted it then because it was what I was worth.
Sugar cane workers in Cuba & El Salvador would likely machete each other for that much money.
Where you got the $125/month figure from Maria - Was that for the DR & is it an outdated that number ?
CB the $125/month was from the article. I do think it's outdated. Having spent a few months in a batey in 2018 and 2019, I know the wages are better than that. I was at some homes too and while they were not what we would consider good, they were ok by Dominican and Haitian standards.
Also, there was a clinic on site so that med issues could be addressed locally. Still, it isn't the best of worlds because the employment is seasonal only. They have to find something else to work on at least 6 months out of the year.
Touche. But I do not think that portion of BBB bill sees the light of day.
As to wages, they should receive whatever the prevailing minimum wage (just increased in July) for their skill level.
As to the article itself, the writer referenced this as a burgeoning tax haven. News flash for the writer, this tax haven was created in the mid-1980's. I have managed a Dynasty Trust there since the late 1980's. South Dakota is but one of states that have these trusts............Nevada, Delaware etc. But it does make for a nice reaction piece as evidenced here.
The impression is those greedy super wealthy people hide their money there. Another news flash, it is not just for the 1%. It is for anyone who seeks to transfer wealth to future generations.....................and I might add.............it is all within the law. No different than people changing their domicile to low tax states in the US.
Further, money goes where it is treated best...........always has.........and probably always will.
Raising wages without a commensurate rise in productivity produces the greatest hidden tax of all.......................inflation...............just ask Brazil, Zimbabwe, Argentina, Venezuela........................and even the Dominican Republic.
Respectfully,
Playacaribe2
My bad - I went back and scrolled through and it looks like the pay stub was recent - I didn't see hours listed - seems it is being paid per ton ? Is it pay for production ?
Of course there have been calls to reopen the sugar cane plant in Montellano as that was a source of employment for the Haitians there. But that won't happen.
While I would like to see everyone paid a decent wage - the world market drives what is being paid for sugar - and if you raise wages significantly your sugar prices must increase and you will be cut out of the market - And DR is a relatively small producer now in the sugar business # 44 of 124 countries producing sugar.
Doesn't matter what I believe. It is easy to complain about money being paid out if it isn't coming out of your pocket. If nobody was willing to work for that wage then they would have to raise it. MacDonald's was having to pay far above the minimum wage in North Dakota and my part of Canada during the oil boom. My brother couldn't keep warehouse workers at 28 dollars an hour because they could make 35 plus in the oil and gas industry. Right now in the USA many companies are offering huge signing bonuses ..etc. due to shortage of workers. Same thing would happen if everyone refused to cut sugar cane for 125 dollars a month.
The article and the corresponding photo of his wage receipt show the Haitian sugar cane worker making about $125.00 a month. Doesn't appear to be an outdated receipt.
IMO, the wealthy owners should pay those workers more. They could get easily afford it.
It's also interesting that it's illegal to hire Haitian workers....how does this company do that without being penalized? It's interesting they can flout the immigration laws to their advantage.
Proverbs 22:16 Whoever oppresses the poor for his own increase and whoever gives to the rich, both come to poverty
I used to build spec homes, and this was in the 90s and even up to 2008.
I had to pay good carpenters then $20/hour and did so gladly for those qualified.
Some wannabe carpenters I started at $12, and most washed out in a couple weeks, as you need to know math and trigonometry to be a decent carpenter. Surprisingly my core group all had college degrees.
Wages continued to climb to $25/hr until the entire wage structure was demolished by illegal immigrant carpenters in California, who were willing to work for half my crews.
You can find few non-Hispanic carpenters in California these days (nor concrete masons, laborers, roofers or landscapers). But some are quite good at the craft. It's just one trade where the wage structure was destroyed and thus living wages for natives.
So next time you hear someone complain about low wages - remind them that illegal immigration reduces wages - whether in DR or elsewhere and if they ask for more money, plenty more illegals will be lined up at the border to replace them