We are all engaged with understanding and resisting the serial atrocities being pushed by the Trump Administration (#resist — proud of everyone who does!), but this local engagement is important, especially since Gov. Markell’s final budget provides for a great many budget costs, with a great deal of cost shifting in order to address the horrible hole in the budget.
It won’t do to not pay attention locally too. But Governor Carney has scheduled a number of meetings for what he is calling a “Budget Reset” for community conversations on the budget and ideas for fixing it. Here is the schedule:
7:30 a.m. – January 30 – Timothy’s on the Riverfront, Wilmington, with Representative Stephanie T. Bolden
7:30 a.m. – February 15 – Drip Café, Hockessin, with Senator David Sokola
8:00 a.m. – February 21 – Drip Café, Hockessin, with Senator Greg Lavelle
9:00 a.m. – February 22 – Downtown Dover Partnership, Dover, with Senator Brian Bushweller
February 22 – TELE-TOWN HALL
9:00 a.m. – March 1 – Nanticoke Senior Center, Seaford, with Representative Daniel Short
8:00 a.m. – April 5 – Café Gelato, Newark, with Representative Paul Baumbach
Get one of these on your calendar and go if you can. Let us know what you hear. If you can’t go, post up your idea for fixing the budget below.
I’m in favor of changing the upper brackets of the income tax — create two or more new brackets so that Delaware can build a more progressive income tax, and get a whole state reassessment done. Then let each county decide if they want to collect additional revenue based on that reassessment.
Your ideas?
Reform the Delaware income tax structure as follows:
2016 and before
$0 – $2,000 0.00%
$2,000 – $5,000 2.20%
$5,000 – $10,000 3.90%
$10,000 – $20,000 4.80%
$20,000 – $25,000 5.20%
$25,000 – $60,000 5.55%
$60,000+ 6.60%
2017 and after
$0 – $10,000 0.00%
$10,000 – $20,000 2%
$20,000 – $30,000 3%
$30,000 – $40,000 4%
$40,000 – $60,000 5%
$60,000 – $100,000 5.5%
$100,000 – $200,000 6%
$200,000 – $300,000 7%
$300,000 – $400,000 8%
$400,000 – $500,000 9%
$500,000 + 10%
All except one of these dates allows for teachers to attend. Is this by design?
Chances that legalizing marijuana is seriously discussed as a strategy to generate more revenue?
I went to this morning’s meeting. I’ll have more later, but the real takeaway is that the Governor presented Medicaid, Salaries, Health Care and pensions as the big buckets on the table and nothing in terms of real revenue generation. He was specifically asked about marijuana legalization as a revenue generator and he dismissed that out of hand. He is still in favor of giving up business revenues as a tradeoff for jobs, but even his own graphic notes that this is not a tradeoff that has been working. At best, it has let the state tread water, but has not generated the kind of growth that would increase the income tax pie.
And fans of the Coastal Zone Act will need to suit up.