 |
The Government is Playing Games With Employee Retirement Benefits
The retirement benefits of Delaware state and local government employees are at risk. The governments of both the state and New Castle County have been playing financial games with their employee's pension funds, but the chickens are coming home to roost.
For more than two years groups li...[read more] |
|
With All Due Respect to Alan Levin
March 28, 2013
I appreciate Delaware Director of Economic Development (DEDO) Alan Levin's recent response in the News Journal to my assessment of the condition and immediate future of the Delaware economy ("Writer Misrepresents Delaware's Economic Health" March 15, News Journal)....[read more] |
|
Updated Transparent Delaware data
Thanks to the generous support of CRI donors and the professional cooperation of the Delaware Office of Management and Budget, the payroll and vendor data in Transparent Delaware has been updated to include 2011. A review of the data shows that some things continued and some things changed substan...[read more] |
|
Economic Growth Starts at Home
In his recent State of the State address the Governor asserted that the legislated expiration of both his earlier 17% increase in Delaware's top personal income tax rate and the 34% increase in the average gross receipts tax rates were "unaffordable tax cuts today."
How ha...[read more]Read Document Here |
|
No Longer Blowing Smoke
In August of 2009 Delaware raised its cigarette tax from $1.15 to $1.60 per pack of 20 smokes. The consequences were predictable.
State revenue from the cigarette tax fell between 2009 and 2012. In part this was due to the higher price discouraging smoking. In addition, however, Delaware's...[read more]Read Document Here |
|
Sussex County to New Castle County: We'll Take Your Taxpayers
CRI has contended that between the 1998 Uniform Development Code land use regulation and the general practices toward subdivision review, that New Castle County (NCC) government is anti-development. Lack of economic growth has led to very large increases in NCC taxes and f...[read more]Read Document Here |
|
Delaware's Occupation License Requirements Harm Workers
 In a May 2012 report the Institute for Justice ranked all the states with regards to barriers to entry to low- and moderate-income occupations. Delaware had the 42nd most burdensome licensing laws and was the 25th most extensively and onerously licensed state.
The report documents the...[read more]Read Document Here |
|
Happy Holidays, New Castle County Residents! Your Gift: Higher Taxes, Higher Crime
In a series of analyses CRI has argued the New Castle County (NCC) government is facing a serious fiscal crisis. This crisis was precipitated by the passage in 1998 of the anti-growth and anti-economic development Uniform Development Code (UDC). The recent recession has made things wo...[read more]Read Document Here |
|
Does Governor Markell deserve a "D"?
11/9/2012
In their recent “Fiscal Report Card on America’s Governors,” the CATO Institute gave Delaware’s Governor Markell a “D”. The basis for the grade was that over the past four years the Governor has increased taxes (i.e., personal income, gross receipts...[read more]Read Document Here |
|
Why is the State stonewalling on pension data?
10/2/2012
When the Caesar Rodney Institute launched its Transparent Delaware website in March of this year, the intent was to include with the individual state payroll and vendor data, the most recent state pension data. The request for the pension data was denied on the basis of statute 29...[read more]Read Document Here |
|
You are not allowed to know where your tax dollars are going
9/28/2012
As a public service and to boost government transparency, the Caesar Rodney website includes payroll data for every state government employee and all vendor transactions. While recently updating this information through June of 2011, CRI ran into a roadblock with regard to adding ...[read more]Read Document Here |
|
Some state employees are more equal than others
9/20/2012
The on-going analysis of the Transparent Delaware data on state payroll continues to raise puzzling results. For this round, CRI compared the total compensation of state employees in 2008 and 2010 and found that some state employees are treated far more generously than others with...[read more]Read Document Here |
|
Delaware on the Dole
The University of Delaware, in conjunction with the National Renewable Energy Lab, is seeking a grant from a $180 million fund established by the U. S. Department of Energy for a wind turbine research project to be built off the coast of Delaware. The effort has the full support of Delaware’s ...[read more]Read Document Here |
|
Lessons learned from Fisker Motors
Since the state of Delaware awarded Fisker Motors an interest free loan of $12.5 million and a $9 million grant, what has transpired and what lessons can be learned from this?
Following the loan and grant from the state and a $529 million federal government loan guarantee, things have been ugly. ...[read more]Read Document Here |
|
Delaware's economy and governance
Since Delaware has had 15 consecutive years of conservative governors followed by 18 years of progressive governors, it is an interesting case study. Do the differences in the governance philosophies have consequences for Delaware’s economy?
A simple answer to this question is to consider the...[read more]Read Document Here |
|
