The deadline for Delaware to finalize a balanced budget is drawing near. The deadline is midnight on June 30th, which as we all know, is mandated by the state constitution, as the date when the General Assembly must pass a balanced budget to be signed by the Governor.
Of course as we all, also know, the GA never actually passes the budget before midnight. Every year they suspend the rules, or as they like to call it, “stop the clock”, until they can “hammer out” the final details of the budget.
The other running joke is, they don’t actually pass a balanced budget. What they pass is, a budget padded with revenue projections, projections which almost never come to fruition.
This is why Delaware has been subjected to an ever-growing budget deficit, year after year. Because it doesn’t take a degree in finances to see, if they were actually balancing the budget, then there would only be a deficit as a result of some unforeseen emergency.
Which by the way, is why we have what is called, the rainy day fund. Well here is a message to all legislators, it’s not just raining, the state is drowning.
I have some friends who have been wanting me to write about the budget. But why? What is the point? There is nothing new under the sun which will happen on June 30th. Well, I have heard, there may need be a “special session” in order to solve the dilemma.
But what are we talking about, really? Anyone who pays even the slightest bit of attention to the workings of this state’s government, and the way things have been for decades, knows what’s about to happen.
The party in control, that being the Democrats, want to raise revenue. For those uninformed readers, this means taxes. The minority party, that being the Republicans, talk about cuts, again for the uninformed readers, this means bullshit. Never going to happen.
What will happen, is the Democrats will make promises, like a change to prevailing wage, a long time wish list item for Republicans. I actually was present when the Republicans thought they had gotten the deal done, when suddenly, out of no where, the Democrats reneged on the deal, after of course they had gotten their half of the deal.
So once again there will be some dog and pony show of making cuts in spending, or some other carrot the GOP members will bite on, and then taxes will be raised.
So what are we talking about? Democrat legislators will vote for higher taxes and more spending. Republican legislators will talk about cuts in spending and creating jobs, and taxes will be raised.
The when election rolls around, Democrat voters will vote for the same people who wanted to raise their taxes, and Republican voters will attempt to change the balance, and fail.
So why bother talking about the budget this year, or any year. Nothing will get changed by the process. Because until we change the balance of power, until there is some change in the voter’s mentality about how they vote, we will continue down the same road.
Spoiler alert. There is no way on God’s green earth, there will be a balanced budget based on cuts in spending. There is no way any of the people in Dover, of either party, are willing to do, as a good friend on mine likes to say, what they need to do, which is, “lose their jobs by doing their jobs”.
Because if the elected officials cared more about the good of the state and its citizens, than they do about re-election, they would make severe cuts, which would hurt in the short-term, but which would put us back on the path to real fiscal prosperity, and not some make-believe, fake balanced budget of revenue projections.
Trust me when I say, I have yet to meet anyone in the General Assembly who has that kind of courage, publicly.
Cut this? Lose that constituency. Cut that? Lose those votes. De-fund this agency? State employees will march in the streets.
The problem in Dover is, all of the so-called compromises, and deals, are not intended to benefit the state, or its citizens. The deals are meant to give cover to the legislators. The Democrats get their tax hikes, and keep the services and entitlements going which their supporters want, and the Republicans get a few crumbs to give the perception they are actually capable of any kind of influence.
So what are we talking about? Nothing really. $400 million in deficit is meaningless. At the end of the day the Legislators in Dover will cover their collective asses and write what they will call a balanced budget. The tax payers will take another hit in the wallet. Election time will roll around and nothing will change.
Then next year, at this time, we will once again be served up another dog and pony show, because even with higher taxes, we will see another deficit year. Why? Because anything you tax, you get less of, like raising the tax on tobacco? After all, wasn’t that why the state originally began raising that tax? It’s why it is called a sin tax. The state wanted people to smoke less, so government made tobacco more expensive. So now when government needs “revenue”, we are to believe raising the tobacco tax will some how, not cause people to smoke less?
The state will raise the income tax. This means people will have less to spend on goods and services, which means less revenue for the state from those sources. The people we have sent to Dover don’t seem to have even the basic understanding of how economics work, or human nature. The citizens do not have an unlimited source of revenue from which they can be taxed. If the state takes more, then the citizen has less, but in reality, the state has merely moved the source of its revenue around from one tax to another.
So what are we talking about? Not a damn thing.
Reminds me of this poem…
The Tax Poem by Author Unknown
Tax his land, tax his wage,
Tax his bed in which he lays.
Tax his tractor, tax his mule,
Teach him taxes is the rule.
Tax his cow, tax his goat,
Tax his pants, tax his coat.
Tax his ties, tax his shirts,
Tax his work, tax his dirt.
Tax his chew, tax his smoke,
Teach him taxes are no joke.
Tax his car, tax his grass,
Tax the roads he must pass.
Tax his food, tax his drink,
Tax him if he tries to think.
Tax his sodas, tax his beers,
If he cries, tax his tears.
Tax his bills, tax his gas,
Tax his notes, tax his cash.
Tax him good and let him know
That after taxes, he has no dough.
If he hollers, tax him more,
Tax him until he’s good and sore.
Tax his coffin, tax his grave,
Tax the sod in which he lays.
Put these words upon his tomb,
“Taxes drove me to my doom!”
And when he’s gone, we won’t relax,
We’ll still be after the inheritance tax.
This poem is presumed to be in the public domain;
no copyright or credit information can be found.
By BEN KEW 19 Jun 2017
CARACAS, Venezuela – Driving through the streets of Caracas, it is impossible not to notice the ubiquitous government propaganda on the sides of buildings and scores of armed police.
Even harder to avoid, however, is the garbage.
On almost every street corner, stacks of waste can be seen piled up, some of it in black bags, but other items in limbo such as water bottles, diapers and occasionally food waste.
Around almost every pile of garbage, a crowd had formed, rifling through it for scraps to eat. From schoolchildren to the elderly, even to those in work uniform, many Venezuelans are resorting to scavaging just to survive. A recent report found that over 15 percent of people scavenge as a means of survival.
Those who eat what they find have developed the skill of finding edible bits of food where they can. In an interview with Colombia’s El Tiempo, for example, one woman noted that some neighborhoods are known for having the “good” garbage – the kind with food in it that can be recooked and consumed, as opposed to non-food waste….
This is where socialism inevitably leads. If the nation is affluent, it may take a hundred years. If it is poor, as Venezuela was when Hugo Chavez ushered-in hard left “social justice” economics, it only takes a few years. Eventually, there’s no one else to steal from.
Democrats are socialists. Period. And they run this state, and they’ll some day run it into the ground. All they need is a citizenry of dupes, and time.
The GA repealed the estate tax, one would think all you Republicans would be doing backflips over that.
Well Delacrat, I don’t know about you, but the repeal of the estate tax will not benefit me. While I can see the benefit for farmers and businesses, the average citizen’s “estate ” would fall under the taxable amount anyway. This is exactly what I mean when I say the GOP get a few crumbs , but overall will not benefit a majority of the citizens.
You write the budget? Your “friends” who you will never ever name are idiots to think you could publish anything more than a comic book.
And so the wheel turns another year of bullsh*t that is supposed to pass for representation in Dover. Another year of deals cut in the wee hours when nobody is looking, Sussex tech is still a hotbed for hillbilly welfare in Sussex, and Danny Short can not help himself from ****ing with water supply at DNREC, to protect his insured clients from their own ignorance. You ask what has changed? Nothing.
The Socialist-Democrats have run Wilmington and NCC for decades. How have they done? Wilmington is dying. The blue-collar jobs, good jobs, are almost gone as corporations flee to low-tax southern states. The banking industry is fading. The city is a shell of its former self with dilapidated buildings and a ludicrously high murder rate for a city with only 75k citizens. Downtown shopping is nearly non-existent. Of course, there’s always the trashy Christiana Mall. Sure, Wilmington still has affluent enclaves. Old money. No wonder Delaware leads the nation in the percentage of college grads who leave their home state to seek employment elsewhere.
How are things in Sussex? After a temporary hiatus, the building boom has returned. Lewes and Rehoboth have more successful shops and restaurants than the rest of the state combined, and Milton has turned the corner toward prosperity. Property values are high. The chicken business is doing well, as are the micro-breweries. New hotels and new restaurants. Leaving Wilmington and then driving around Lewes/Rehoboth is like leaving East Germany and going to the West- from the decrepit to the modern.
Now the Socialist-Democrats need to steal more of our money in order to pay for their stinkin’ “programs.” Of course, “programs” is code for handouts.
“Welcome to Sussex County- Democrats, keep out.”
The republicans run of sexual issues, racial resentments and religion
If i am using the General Assembly website correctly, i think five of the last 6 budgets were passed before June 30th. If I am mistaken, please excuse my lack of technical ability.
2016 budget (HB 285) passed on 6/29
2014 (SB 255) on 6/25
2013 (HB 200) on 6/27
2012 ( SB 260) on 6/28
2011 ( HB 190) on 6/25