Are Democratic Ideals and Principals Now Relics of the Past?
In a decision that I can only interpret as a betrayal of the core principles and ideals of Democrats, ten members of Delaware’s Democratic Party House caucus joined the entire Republican House caucus and voted to pass HB 16. The piece of legislation, introduced by Representative Mike Ramone and co-sponsored exclusively by Republicans, would repeal Delaware’s estate tax with a significant and permanent loss of revenue.
In 2016, the estate tax brought in $9.3 million of needed revenue despite projections that it would garner only $3.5 million. Future conservative projections for ensuing years range from $3 to $5 million in revenue which would be forfeited, with this bill’s passage, in the midst of nearly $400 million yearly budget deficits. The main instigators of this tax cut for the wealthy are the Chamber of Commerce (at the national level as well), the Business Roundtable, all of the Republican Representatives and a few select Democrats, some of whom occupy seats on the finance committees.
The most startling occurrence during Thursday’s floor debate was Speaker of the House Schwartzkopf’s interruption of the floor discussion thereby depriving the public, media, and legislators of access to all the facts that make HB 16 such an abhorrent and harmful piece of legislation. I feel obligated to relate some of those details which I had hoped to present on the House floor during the debate on HB 16.
Listed here are some of the programs that are targeted for elimination because of revenue shortfalls. These programs assist the poorest and most vulnerable citizens of Delaware, enabling them to survive in a recessive economy during which the wealthy are getting wealthier and the poor left to their own devices. Forfeiting millions of dollars of revenue with passage of HB 16 will guarantee that some or all of the following proposed cuts will occur.
1) Elimination of the Delaware Prescription Assistance Program ($2.5 million) available for a means tested destitute senior population that cannot afford food and medicine at the same time.
2) Elimination of the General Assistance Fund ($5 million) that provides a whopping $3 per day to a few thousand qualified recipients (including homeless and single moms) who are unemployed or unable to work and do not qualify for other benefits such as Social Security.
3) $2.6 million saved by reducing the Medicaid Dental Reimbursement (say goodbye to your rare dentist who is willing to see those poor children and pregnant moms).
4) $1.4 million reduction to TANF, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.
5) $5 million reduction in school tax credit currently allowed to seniors. This amounts to approximately $100 each and doesn’t even separate those that can better afford it with a means test.
6) $3.5 million Pupil Transportation increase for traditional schools—shifting State/Local share from 90:10 to 85:15.
These cuts illustrate the harmful effects of another giveaway to the wealthiest among us at the expense of the poorest among us. When I began to explain and express the consequences of estate tax repeal on the floor of the House, the Speaker ruled that he would not permit me to speak any longer. Regardless of the Speaker’s actions and decision, I am obligated to submit this information to inform the public and my colleagues in the Senate of these harmful cuts and the potential consequences of the General Assembly’s actions regarding HB 16.
John Kowalko
State Representative
25th District
You’re a Communist. That’s not meant as an insult. Embrace it!
You’re a dupe who has no chance of ever being impacted by an estate tax. It is what it is.
Again, ask John Carney one question: How is elimination of the estate tax for multi- millionaires SHARED SACRIFICE? That’s John’s favorite slogan these days!
C’mon, Kline, put up or shut up. Where and when?
Tom, eat shit you troll fuck. Like I wrote earlier, politics ebbs and flows. One day up and another down. Fortunately, you’ll always be an empty-headed rube. Scared, confused, unlettered and regretful. Sincerely.
John, we’re behind you. Trust me.
Last night Carney had to be reminded what the numbers were on the three revenue items in his preprinted f-ing agenda. He seemed very defensive that his grand (lack of) vision could be challenged. He keeps insisting that the cuts to education are not a cut, but a shift in funding. Hmm.
Gigi. Thanks for that. Sounds like Carney is in waaaay over his head.
Is that a smart ass reply
No. Sorry if it sounded that way. Carney is a mess and he only had EIGHT years as Givernor in waiting. WTF?
Tax income once.
Kowalko is silly beyond any measure of reality.
Man, we are being inundated with mindless trolls.
For those of you who are serious readers, look at the list of programs on the chopping block in Kowalko’s piece. Cutting the legs out from under the most indigent to save a few pennies while Delaware’s wealthiest don’t pay their fair share.
A ‘Democratic’ governor and a ‘Democratic’ legislature.
I’ll say it again. Primaries, pipples, primaries. I start naming names next week.
I agree, primaries are needed, even if they don’t succeed it should throw a scare into our far too numerous DINOS. As for Carney, well…. There’s no rest for the wicked, or the pathetic and rather stupid either. As for RE Vanella’s comment: Well said sir! Well said!
Why wait? If there is someone to support, or someone who would make a good target, start now.
Because I have to make the donuts, aka write the articles. Around my work schedule. If you want to get a head start, you can check out the D’s who voted to eliminate the Estate Tax:
Gerald Brady
William Carson
Bryon Short
Valerie Longhurst
Melanie Smith
Michael Mulrooney
Trey Paradee
Quinton Johnson
Peter Schwartzkopf
John Viola.
BTW, this is by no means an exhaustive list. I see at least five of these reps as being vulnerable, plus one is rumored to be retiring. In other words, this is not an exercise in futility.
Might as well add Osienski to that list since he favors the death penalty and wants to carry water for Carney to gut the Coastal Zone Act.
I wish someone would record Carney’s budget reset talk tonight so that when he starts cutting off questions mid-sentence and refuses to answer others, there’s evidence that he has no desire to listen to opinions other than his own.
Republicans threatened FDR with death threats in response to increasing their federal income taxes in the 30s. They have had the goal of dismantling the New Deal ever since. With considerable venom, lies, misrepresentations of “fact” and poisonous policy ideas. The Republican contruct for “leadership” includes low taxes for the uber rich, private investment and fees for infrastructure (this made electricity our of reach for Tennessee citizens until the feds stepped in with the TVA), privatized medicine and law, and placing what remains of the middle class and the poor in “debt slavery”. This is oligarchy. Having successfully lowered the top tax rate to the same rate a person making 60K a year would pay, and reducing brackets to essentially tax the middle class and the poor, they now set their sights on the estate tax, and Rep. Kowalko’s “colleagues” jumped on board to eliminate an “onerous” tax, the one designed to alter slightly the concentration of wealth across all socio-economic lines. It is fair to anyone who is not paying it. Since it only kicks in after the first 1.5M, it’s likely no one in the middle class or the poor will ever pay it. Only the humpty dumptys sitting on the Trumptillian wall. May we all have omelettes tomorrow!!
Democrats NEVER win by supporting Republican ideas. NEVER.
Regarding speaker Pete. Everyone knows the Wilmington U is a diploma mill. Utterly devoid of educational value. Need I say more? Way to go on the estate tax, Pete. You can’t get out of your own way when it comes to thinking things through, can you?
“Democrats NEVER win by supporting Republican ideas. NEVER.”
Incumbents can. I guess that’s what Carney is banking on. The problem arises when incumbents champion Republican ideas they are slamming the door on Democratic challengers vying to knock off a Republican.
Speaking of ideals, does anyone have a copy of the Democratic Party’s platform from 2013? I need to see it and have none. Thanks in advance.
Platform- You mean its not online or on Del Dems website??
Thanks Chris, I found it.
Income is only taxed once. When you inherit something, it’s income. I know all the boys in Sussex are afraid they will have to pay inheritance tax on their parent’s trailer though lol
Delaware taxes only very large estates, worth more than $5.49 million. For deaths in 2017, estates with a total value of more than $5.49 million may be subject to the Delaware estate tax. (The exempt amount for 2016 was $5.45 million; the state exemption amount changes with the federal estate tax exemption amount.)
Delaware Estate Tax | Nolo.com
http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/delaware-estate-tax.html