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The News Journal channels its inner Libertarian

Unbelievable:

Delaware cannot afford its government.

t's as simple as that. Few people will deny it -- as long they think the voters can't hear. Certain segments will bluster about doing more for constituents. But the harsh reality is that Delaware's government has grown too large and it costs too much.

And too much of it is ineffective. There are too few benchmarks for performance. So, for a good portion of the time, neither the governor's office nor the Legislature knows who is doing what and why.

The current financial crisis points out more than anything how overextended the situation is. For too many years, Delaware was able to "export" its taxes, pushing the bill on others while politicians built the good life....

The 2.5 percent government employee wage cut, if it actually goes through, is only temporary. They will be back in next year's budget from day one. Leg Hall is praying for a miracle recovery.

In the meantime, the political solution of choice is to raise the personal income tax so high that it will cover all these excessive expenses. In other words, now that the economy is crushing taxpayers, the politicians want to jump on and crush them some more.

It is the time to make real decisions, not just deals. Tell your legislator you want a solution, not just a fix.


Please don't tell our friends, for whom ever-expanding government regardless of the cost represents the salvation of the nation.

Comments

Nancy Willing said…
How true. The other thing is that the county and muni's are often performing and staffing redundancies. Overlay of functions and programming should stop.

We are so tiny. We can not afford all these layers doing the same thing.
Tyler Nixon said…
Amen, Nancy. It was my campaign mantra in both my efforts for GA, as you said it : "too many layers of government for such a small jurisdiction". I would analogize to counties some of which have populations in the millions, yet operate just fine with a single government.

The N-J has been showing glimmers of sense like this occasionally. Ron Williams has made similar rumblings.

Again I say, AMEN!

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