[SauciestGNU]

I've always thought there should be a tax of some multiple of the dollar value of public assistance employees receive from every employer (so if a worker has multiple jobs and still takes public assistance, each employer would be liable for some multiple of the whole amount).

Government should know who is receiving public assistance, but keep it anonymous for the purposes of levying the tax, so employers can't retaliate/discriminate against those on public assistance.

If employers had to pay $10 in tax for every dollar an employee receives in public assistance, I suspect it would be cheaper to pay workers a living wage.

[SomewhatLikely]

What would this do that a minimum wage wouldn't do?

[SauciestGNU]

IDK but since legislating fair wages seems to not be feasible, this is something else to try.