"Living Wage"

Here's at thought: If government wants to increase the minimum wage why don't they cut down their part that doesn't make it to the worker- taxes? Unfortunately, I can think of many answers of why not (at least ones that politicians would say). The problem is that not one of these reasons makes sense. By the way, I don't like the term "living wage". How many people in this country die each year because they make a "dying wage"?