Anybody paying attention can see what’s going on. The alleged D leaders in the General Assembly either aren’t paying attention, or they’re in the bag as well.
Stated simply: Gov. Markell, aided and abetted by his pro-business propagandists, is pursuing a strategy of forcing cuts on the most vulnerable with NO consideration being given to increasing revenues as a means of closing the budget gap.
You’re already familiar with the choreographed calls for cuts to health care, public education, and state employees emanating from the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable.
Here are two illuminating quotes from the linked article:
“This isn’t a partisan issue. This is a Delaware issue,” said Rich Heffron, president of the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce. “It doesn’t just affect the business community. It affects everybody in the state. You can’t keep pushing everything off.”
and
““If these issues aren’t solved and we have these gaps … the only way to solve those issues short term is by the stroke of a pen that increases taxes,” said Mark Turner, the chief executive of the Wilmington-based bank WSFS.”
There you have it. The agenda of these business leaders is to cut services, and to prevent any tax/revenue increases.
And Delaware’s corporate lackey governor joined them with this Friday news dump release.
Responding to pressure from business leaders and Republicans, Gov. Jack Markell created a committee by executive order on Friday to review government spending, and explore new ways to deliver state government services at a lower cost to taxpayers.
A report this month from the Business Roundtable, a coalition of Delaware CEOs, found that Delaware will face deficits up to $600 million annually over the next decade without action to rein in rising spending. Business leaders have cautioned that tax increases alone will not solve Delaware’s problems, and will only cause companies to consider moving business out of the state.
Time out. Let’s just parse that previous paragraph, shall we? First, the ‘report’ from the Business Roundtable ‘found’ that Delaware will face annual deficits of over $600 mill ‘without action to rein in rising spending’? To me, ‘found’ reflects a statement of fact, which is inaccurate. This report is a political screed in report form, and is designed to push the debate in a specific direction. The survey methodology considered certain things, and omitted certain things, thus yielding the result the Business Roundtable paid for. The quoted ‘report’ only identifies rein(ing) in rising spending’. Nothing on the revenue side.
OK. Now, what’s wrong with this sentence: “Business leaders have cautioned that tax increases alone will not solve Delaware’s problems, and will only cause companies to consider moving business out of the state.”
First, the word ‘cautioned’. Again, this implies a statement of fact when, in fact, it’s an assertion. Plus, I have yet to see any proponent of this ‘report’ assert that raising taxes represents even a part of the solution. Plus, the report provides no empirical evidence to tie raising taxes with businesses moving out of state. I think this paragraph was poorly written by the reporter, and inferentially buys into the argument the Business Roundtable and the Chamber are making.
Now on to Lackey Jack. Our Democratic Governor. Who, during his entire tenure, has never proposed a pay increase for state employees, but who has sought to cut employees’ benefits. And he’s looking at doing it again. He has now, through Executive Order, created two task forces to look at the budget shortfall. You will recall that the first one dismissed any call for restoration of a progressive tax structure, and, in fact, called for, wait for it, lower taxes on the wealthy. If you read the Executive Order, this group was not charged with the responsibility of identifying new revenue sources to close any future budget gap. Oh no. Here are the weasel words:
The Council’s review of state revenue sources shall consider and evaluate whether Delaware’s principal revenue resources are appropriately responsive to economic growth, whether they are too volatile, whether they are economically competitive, and, in making such evaluations, note other tax policy issues that pursuit of these objectives may entail.
There is nothing in the Executive Order calling for an examination of fairness in the current tax structure, and that is no accident. The recommendations in the report are what you’d expect from a pro-business-dominated task force with a specific charge. Among them:
Personal Income Tax: Broadening the Personal Income Tax base would improve the portfolio’s responsiveness without increasing volatility or reducing competitiveness. The Council recommends base
broadening via the elimination of itemized deductions and a scaling back of elderly tax preferences. The latter should come by phasing in higher eligibility ages for certain provisions, means-testing, or a combination of both approaches. Base broadening would be achieved in a revenue-neutral fashion by simultaneously reducing tax rates.
Got that? This won’t generate any more revenue, it will just shift more of the burden onto seniors while actually cutting taxes on everybody else. Oh, and check out the Estate Tax proposal:
Estate Tax: The Estate Tax is volatile, unresponsive to the economy, and puts Delaware at a competitive disadvantage. Due to concerns about the Estate Tax’s negative influence on revenues from the Personal Income Tax, the Council recommends repealing the Estate Tax and replacing the revenue it generates via a small increase in the Personal Income Tax.
Oh, those onerous Estate Taxes. Get rid of them, and raise income taxes on everybody (not just those who pay estate taxes), but just enough to offset yet another undeserved tax break for the wealthy. If you read all the recommendations (I recommend that you do so), you will see that this ‘council’ bought the meme that cutting the shackles off the wealthy is the only way to go. As if we’re not doing that right now. This report is dishonest and disheartening, and it’s exactly what Jack Markell wanted. As did business lobbyists. We’ve already got Paul Morrill from the ‘Committee of 100’ calling for the General Assembly to pass the report’s recommendations as soon as they reconvene in January. Uh, did I mention that this whole thing is being choreographed? BTW, who, you may ask, is/are the Committee of 100? A business lobbying group that pushes its economic development schemes in Dover and also in New Castle County. Pam Scott’s on the Board of Directors.
Are you beginning to see a pattern here? The first thing the greedmeisters are seeking to do is to lock in the horrible/bad/no good recommendations of Markell’s first panel. Pass the recommendations. In January. Before anybody knows what’s in them. Hey, then we’ll have Markell’s equally-business-centric task force on cutting spending weighing in later this year. Markell wants this as his legacy. Only the D’s in the General Assembly can stop it.
Did I mention the D’s? Let me be more specific. Speaker Pete Schwartzkopf, President Pro-Tempore Patti Blevins and their leadership minions. You know, those who sold out their caucus members at the end of June to cut a deal with the Rethugs that led, in part, to this latest Markell working group. Well, they ‘wrote’ an op-ed. Not bad as far as it goes. But, other than a brief mention of ‘asking the incredibly successful companies who have long enjoyed Delaware’s corporate hospitality to do a little bit more’, there’s nothing explaining how they’d propose to close the revenue gap. We all know how simple it is: You either reduce costs (cut services) and/or raise revenues. When you have a speaker who can’t even spell gas tax, you’re not gonna raise significant revenues.
For the life of me, I don’t understand why the D’s are so bleeping defensive. Go after these business groups who are organizing this propaganda, and challenge them to pay their fair share. Challenge the wealthy to pay their fair share. That’s the field upon which this battle should be waged. Not one where a bunch of bogus reports somehow are given a weightiness they don’t deserve. And screw Markell. D’s must not allow this to become his lasting legacy. Oh, and John? John? How about getting out front and standing up for Democrats for a change? Fighting this is both good politics and good policy for the D’s. I just question whether those wielding the power believe it.
There is a concerted propaganda campaign under way by Delaware’s Greediest and Delaware’s DINO governor. If it succeeds, only the wealthy will emerge better off. It’s time the Democrats stood up to them. Or got the bleep out of the way.