I will continue to work towards creating a fair budget that funds needed services for families and businesses. Rather than the failed policies of tax breaks and giveaways for the largest corporations, we need to invest in small businesses, restore cuts to public education, and strengthen the middle class. Delaware deserves economic stability that will provide necessary and meaningful services and benefit to all.
Delaware continues to hemorrhage taxpayer money through tax breaks and giveaways to the wealthiest corporations in the world. Since 2008, our State has squandered over $250 million of taxpayer money through grants by the Delaware Economic Development Office with over one-third of that money going to six of the wealthiest Fortune 500 companies with no proven return on investment. In 2016, the General Assembly passed two bills that forfeited $60 million in the first year and an increasing amount every year since to the benefit of wealthy corporations through the “Delaware Competes Act” and the “Commitment to Innovation Act.” I have opposed these expansions of corporate welfare. If we dedicated even only a small percentage of that money to encouraging and assisting growth in smaller Delaware-based companies, we would allow those businesses to prosper, expand, and provide thousands of new jobs.
- We must eliminate corporate giveaways to the wealthiest corporations at taxpayer expense. By almost all accounts, Delaware’s friendly business climate and venerable Chancery Court system contribute to an atmosphere of enticement for incorporation that is unmatched in the United States, and we should not try to compete in some type of corporate extortion against states that can afford much more financial resources than Delaware has.
- We need to close corporate tax loopholes and recover revenue lost by corporate welfare policies by expanding the “Minimum Corporate Franchise Tax Cap” and the “Gross Receipts Tax.” These taxes ensure that the wealthiest corporations pay their fair share.
- Tax incentives and loans to encourage additional job growth and infrastructural expansion should be readily available to local business communities. Small and medium businesses are the most lucrative and available job creation vehicles we have, and support for them provides our State the biggest bang for its buck.
I will continue to vigorously advocate for reform of “corporate anonymity” loopholes in Delaware’s incorporation laws. Delaware’s permissiveness in its unrestrained incorporation and limited liability laws threatens to undermine any serious scrutiny and policing of anonymous shell companies that launder money, deal in illicit arms trades, and commit fraud and tax evasion, among other criminal activities. Incorporation and LLC laws should require divulging the identity of the “beneficial owner” to prevent the formation of unaccountable shell companies. In 2018, I authored HB 57 to begin reforming LLC licensing laws that as currently written allow these illegal activities to be hidden from public scrutiny.
I will also continue to work to reduce the burden on the middle class, the impoverished, seniors, and small businesses. I sponsored and helped pass legislation (SB 228) to restore the Delaware Prescription Assistance Program that provides money for individuals who are poor, elderly, or disabled to obtain their medications so that they did not have to choose between life-saving medication and eating. I also vigorously objected to the ill-advised process called “budget smoothing” that would impose a system of revenue calculations to force arbitrary budget cuts on the services needed for small businesses, ordinary workers, and our most needy citizens. This Grover Norquist conservative dream version of a “Balanced Budget Amendment” would irreparably detrimental to our State economy. Responsible spending cuts, including to corporate welfare policies and our bloated Department of Education, need to be coupled with an additional tax bracket for high income earners and a raise in the minimum wage.
I have introduced legislation that would allow Delaware to wean itself from some of the inconsistent and unsustainable revenue sources on which we have become dependent. As always, when looking at any proposed tax or fee increase, I consider whether or not they are regressive and how significantly they could disaffect families who are already struggling with the current economic situation. In 2018, I introduced two bills that would establish nominally higher tax brackets for individuals earning in excess of $125,000 and $250,000 in taxable income (HB 108 and HB 109). Under these bills, individuals making up to than $125,000 would see a decrease in their tax burden. I also introduced HB 102 (incorporated into HB 175) to increase the amounts paid by some of the wealthiest corporations in the world.
I support raising the minimum wage and increasing cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) to keep pace for those receiving the least compensation for their efforts. I co-sponsored and supported the passage of SB 170, but we need to do more. The minimum wage should be a living wage. It is fair and just to ensure that hard-working men and women are paid for their labor and paid adequately to support a minimal standard of living and dignity that all working Americans deserve. It also makes economic common sense to allow people to earn more spendable income which will flow directly to the local business community, in many cases those business these people work for, and enable the state economy to grow and flourish. Nothing drives a successful economy more than vigorous consumer spending. Nothing provides that consumer capability more than an ever expanding and adequately paid middle class. I also support increasing Unemployment Compensation Benefits, including repealing the tax on these benefits, to reflect the reality of today’s economy and remedy the woefully inadequate assistance provided to working families during desperate economic times.
I support workers’ rights and oppose “right to work” laws. I was proud to help the SEIU win union rights for cleaning people from Optima serving huge and wealthy banks in Wilmington while those banks allowed the contractors to pay paltry wages with no benefits. It is the sacred right of all working individuals to organize and enable a fair consideration for their labors. State and local contracts should not be permitted to go to contractors who obstruct the rights of workers to organize. Further, prevailing wage and Project Labor Agreements should be required on all taxpayer funded work projects. Privatization and outsourcing of jobs is counterproductive to a stable and growing economy, and I have also successfully fought against attempts to reduce wages and benefits for State employees who contribute revenue and spendable income to our economy.