Center for Economic & Fiscal Policy

 

• Over the past 20 years, Delaware’s per capita income has gone from the highest in the nation to below the national average.

 

• According to the Delaware Department of Labor, employment is projected to grow at only 0.5% over the next decade, thereby trailing most of the nation.

 

• Since 2009, Delaware has had five recessions compared to one in the rest of the country.

 

• Including the variable Gross Receipts Tax, small business owners in Delaware often pay the highest personal income tax rates in America. 

 

In partnership with other like-minded Delaware organizations, the primary goals of this Center are to develop bi-partisan strategies and alternative policy options that will bring transparency, regulatory reform, and improved effectiveness to the tens of billions of dollars spent by the State every year.

# # #

 

BILL ALERT: Delaware Legislators Want to Raise Taxes | 6/2/2023

In the last 15 months, Delaware's inflation-adjusted economy contracted a recessionary amount of 14.2%. Meanwhile, COVID-19 Relief Funds have given the State a record level of cash in the bank ($963.5 million).   What might the response from the Delaware General Assembly b...

Governor Carney 'Fiscal' Success Isn't | 5/4/2023

  "Accidents will happen; we only hit and run I don't wanna hear it, 'cause I know what I've done." - Elvis Costello   In a recent article published by the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce, Rick Geisenberger, Delaware's Secretary of Finance, wr...

Electoral Trends in Delaware | 3/23/2023

  "This is the first principle of democracy: that the essential things in men are the things they hold in common, not the things they hold separately."  - G.K. Chesterton   For decades, Delaware was a "bellwether" state that was governed from the &quo...

Delaware’s Unemployment is Fourth Worst in the Nation | 3/1/2023

  "That's the way it is with entrepreneurial people. You try one thing, it doesn't work, you try another." - Pete du Pont     Delaware's unemployment percent rate for December was the 4th worst rate in the Nation at 4.4%. While 4.4% m...

Governor Fails to Achieve His Own 'Vision for Delaware' | 1/27/2023

  "I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education, and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality, and freedom for their spirits." - Martin Luther King Jr., Nobel Peace Prize 1964 acceptance speech. &nbs...

Delaware Needs a ‘Pick-me-up’ | 12/30/2022

In 1925, Delaware's government anointed a state song, "Our Delaware," by an act of the General Assembly. According to Wikipedia, "Our Delaware" is derived from a 1904 poem by George Beswick Hynson, comprising three verses, each honoring one of Delaware&#...

Delawareans are Likely Suffering the 1970’s Level Inflation | 11/10/2022

A nationwide recession in the next 12 months is almost a certainty, but Delaware is already suffering from "stagflation" not seen since the 1970s. The Delaware Legislature needs to move very carefully in the 2023 session and stay out of the economy.   Becoming like California ...

Delaware's Workforce Labor | 9/29/2022

It has been clear that Delaware’s educational system has been substandard for several decades. In addition, previous analysis conducted by the Caesar Rodney Institute has shown that our young people are moving out of the state for better economic opportunities elsewhere.   ...

Why is Delaware's FOIA Process still stuck in the '70s? | 9/16/2022

In 1977, the Delaware General Assembly adopted Delaware's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), stating in the Delaware Code that:   "[I]t is vital in a democratic society that public business be performed in an open and public manner so that our ci...

Delaware's Mix of Businesses has Changed - Regulations Need to Change | 7/8/2022

In the late 1990s, Delaware's economy was known for the "four C's" - Chemicals, Chickens, Cars, and Credit Cards, and big business thrived. By 2000, Delaware had 113 business entities across the state that each employed more than 500 people, mainly i...