To the editor:

Well over 5,000 people, including several City Commission candidates, have endorsed the Kaw Valley Living Wage Alliance petition. This petition says that companies that get tax breaks and employ at least 10 people should pay their employees enough to keep them 30 percent above the poverty line. In 2003, that’s $9.53 an hour plus benefits.

Clint Bradley opposes this. Arguing for tax breaks without living wages, he urges candidates to “solicit some information from the former Soviet Union about how well a government can control wages and growth. … The free market works in the United States, and it works in Lawrence” (Public Forum, March 8).

Mr. Bradley’s sarcasm is misplaced. Tax breaks are acts of government, not the “free market.” Most businesses in Lawrence rely entirely on the market, not on government subsidies. But the city does give some firms tax breaks. Why? To help the people of Lawrence. And when tax breaks reduce poverty, we support them. But we believe that city tax policy should not make poverty worse in Lawrence. Firms should not be rewarded for paying poverty-level wages. That’s why we favor a living wage for tax-abated firms.

Research shows that policies of this kind — linked to tax abatements — actually work. They reduce poverty. They do not scare away business or undermine the local labor market. That’s why 101 U.S. cities and counties have adopted living wage policies. And that’s why Lawrence should do the same. Candidates who take a stand against poverty deserve our praise.

Graham Kreicker and David Smith,

Lawrence