‘Don’t choke them’: KIRO hosts warn Tacoma that a $20 minimum wage will backfire on the workers it’s meant to help

Tacoma may raise its city minimum wage from Washington’s $17.13 an hour to $20, and KIRO host Jake Skorheim said the city should study what happened the last time a Washington city tried to force wages up by mandate.

“You might benefit politically for like two minutes, but when those jobs dry up and those workers come pounding at your door saying, ‘Where’s all the great-paying jobs that you promised us at 20 bucks an hour?’ — this is the result,” Jake said on “The Jake and Spike Show” on KIRO Newsradio.

Tacoma Deputy Mayor Joe Bushnell is drafting the ordinance after months of feedback from small business owners, workers, and other stakeholders, according to KOMO News. The Tacoma City Council is expected to vote before the end of 2026. Tacoma would join Seattle, Tukwila, Renton, Burien, and Everett among Washington cities with minimum wages above the state floor.

Cafe owner says she’s already at her limit

KIRO fill-in host Greg Tomlin said a small business owner interviewed by KOMO News laid out exactly what the wage hike would do to her business. Cecily Lahti, owner of Cafe Bostwick in Tacoma, already pays her employees about $20 an hour — above the current minimum — to attract better workers.

“She already pays about what the city is hoping to get minimum wage to,” Jake said. “Listen to what she says is going to happen when the city just makes that the minimum pay for everybody.”

Lahti told KOMO News she simply can’t pay any more than $20, and if every employer in the city is forced to match that floor, her competitive advantage disappears.

“If everybody’s making $20 an hour, then what’s their incentive for working for me as opposed to somebody else?” Lahti said. “If the cost of everything keeps increasing, places like this can’t stay open.”

Greg identified the economic term for what Lahti is describing.

“What she’s talking about is wage compression,” he said. “So she currently pays her employees $20 an hour, which is more than the minimum wage, so she attracts a more qualified person. And she’s saying if the minimum wage is now $20 an hour, then people have no incentive to come to her business for gainful employment. So her business is going to be in real trouble.”

Jake points to Seattle’s delivery driver debacle

Jake said Tacoma doesn’t need to look far for a cautionary tale. He recalled when Seattle raised the minimum wage for delivery app drivers to roughly $26 an hour, and companies like DoorDash and Uber Eats responded by adding new fees to every order.

“People who are ordering from these different vendors looked at their bill and went, ‘Why am I paying an extra $9 for a burrito that I could walk half a block and get for $12?'” Jake said. “Literally overnight, people stopped ordering.”

He said drivers told KIRO at the time that weekend shifts — once a reliable source of extra income — dried up completely.

“The employers pass it along to the consumer, the consumer reaches a breaking point, and the city makes jobs disappear,” Jake said. “You might be able to claim, ‘We have the highest-paid drivers.’ But we don’t have any drivers that actually make money.”

Seattle is the most expensive place in the country to take a 30-minute Uber ride, according to a 2025 study by NetCredit.

“It used to be such a sweet thing,” Greg said.

‘A 17% increase for no extra output’

Greg said the proposed $20 minimum amounts to a nearly 17% increase in labor costs for employers, with no corresponding increase in productivity.

“When minimum wage goes up, businesses have limited options to make up for the cost,” Greg said. “You can pass it on to consumers, you can reduce staff, or you can reduce operating hours. When the government tries to meddle with the free market based on what feels good and what polls well, the net negative consequences often outweigh the best of intentions.”

Jake said the proposal is almost always driven by politicians with no private-sector experience.

“I don’t know what Deputy Mayor Joe Bushnell’s background is,” Jake said. “If I had to take a wild swing, I’d say he probably hasn’t run too many businesses where you’re paying minimum wage.”

Greg closed with a warning for the council.

“Don’t be myopic thinkers with no appreciation for secondary effects,” he said.

Jake agreed.

“Don’t choke them,” he said, referring to the businesses working to make Tacoma a vibrant city.

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to “The Jake and Spike Show” weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio 97.3