The Delaware Economic and Financial Advisory Council has announced that the Governor and the General Assembly $139.6 million more to play with when fashioning a budget for Fiscal Year 2019. But the Governor got the job of the lecturing Mom warning the kids not to spend all their birthday money on candy.
“It’s important to keep in mind that many of the resources available this year are one-time in nature, and we continue to face longer-term budget challenges that we have not fully addressed,” the governor said via email.
I agree. No new spending. What should be done is old spending. How about we restore all the cuts to Grant-in-Aid programs and services that we cut last year instead of raising taxes on the wealthy. So here is the deal Governor. No new candy spending, but we will help the poor, the sick, and the needy that we short-changed last year. I call that restraint.
Bring on the restraint, and perhaps even the responsibility.
Let’s do a reality check on the March DEFAC report before all of our palms get itchy counting and spending that “windfall”. The $30+ million shortfall in corporate revenue is not a result of the federal corporate tax cuts. It is, in fact, a result of the “Delaware Competes and Delaware Innovates” corporate welfare legislation rushed through during the first week of the final (Markell) General Assembly session and there is no relief in sight.
And before the average Delaware income-taxpayer rushes out to buy that Rolls Royce they should take a deep breath and taste the reality in the air. When the average Delaware state taxpayer opts for the increased standard federal deduction he/she/they will be precluded from itemizing on their State tax return. Since there has been no increase in Delaware’s standard deduction they will probably be losing significant state deduction rights and paying a higher tax to the State. That is why DEFAC has predicted an uptick in PIT revenue. That extra money will hit the lower brackets more severely and disproportionately.
Representative John Kowalko