Tuesday, May 12, 2009

A new gaming law for Delaware awaits only the Governor's signature after passing the Senate today by a vote of 17 to 2. The bill passed the House last week. The expectation is that revenue from this legislation will provide $50 million towards the $600 million shortfall.

The Joint Finance Committee is supposed to start mark up on the budget next week. Gaming is the only new revenue with which they can work. We are six weeks from the end of session and no substantive and sustainable revenue proposal is on the table.

DSEA and their coalition partners have pushed a number of revenue options into the public debate. Today, DSEA went a step farther and showed the legislature that raising new revenue is politically viable.

DSEA sent the results of a poll of Delaware voters to every legislator. The survey was conducted by the opinion research firm of Belden, Russonello, and Stewart at the request of DSEA. Some highlights of the poll include;
  • 86% of Delaware voters oppose closing the budget deficit by taking 8% of teacher's salaries.
  • 61% believe Delaware public schools need more funding.
  • 68% support increasing personal income tax for those earning over $150,000.
  • 77% of voters believe we should change the current income tax structure, which stops at $60,000, by adding a bracket to tax at an increased rate above $150,000.
  • 62% favor restoring the tax on inherited wealth.
  • 64% favor increasing the corporate franchise tax.

The citizens of Delaware are ready to be led out of this recession. Are the decision makers ready to lead?

1 comment:

  1. This looks like very important poll data to me. I want to make sure that all teachers are getting this information. I am not so sure that they all read the weekly memos that DSEA sends out--I do, but they probably don't.

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