This past Sunday Ron Williams of the News Journal opined that:
It’s ever so tedious to continually hear over and over again in this state that there’s no money. No money for this, no money for that. No money to continue to fund such-and-such program. No money to fund a richly deserved new program that would serve senior citizens or babies.
The fact is there is plenty of money in this state. The problem is we have a gaggle of gutless, worn-out wusses in the Legislature whose main goal in life is to run this state on the backs of non-residents through corporate taxes, interstate highway tolls, and inventory fees on national businesses.
Ron is correct. The sad part is the state is not running out of money but individuals are. However his remedy below is not the one we need.
But why not tap other areas of revenue that don’t single out a minority class? Auto registration fees haven’t been raised since 1964. Driver licenses. Auto sales tax.
Or how about the fairest and widest-based of all taxes that haven’t been raised in 20-plus years: state income. Just a quarter of a percent would raise nearly $55 million.
Before we raise one tax or ask Delaware’s ctizens for one more ‘revenue enhancement’ we should;
1. Have a comprehensive workforce review of all state agencies.
2. Consolidate 19 school districts in to 4, one per county and one statewide for Vo-Tech.
3. Go to a two year budget cyle and a Taxpayers Bill of Rights to limit spending increases.
