.
???
Lower?
A minimum wage worker at this new $6.55/hr figure, working 40 hours per week, grosses $262 per week.
If that person worked 52 weeks a year, that's $13,624.
The 1040EZ exemption for 2007 was $8,750. Net gross would be $4,874. Per Schedule X on the Federal tax table, the rate is 10%...$487.40.
Then figure in Earned Income Credit. Even if this worker is single, with no dependents, they pay little or no federal tax, and may well get money. Add in food assistance and Medicaid.
I don't know how you go about forcing a rise in labor costs to a business then go and force them to reduce the price of their product. Why bother to have a business and hire employees, then?