Guest Post–Just say No to tax increases
Jun 29th, 2009 by David Anderson
While the leadership seems to have reached an accord with the Governor which results in millions of dollars in increased taxes, I urge each and every Republican member of the General Assembly to reject the deal. Why? First and foremost, the Republican Party is opposed to tax increases aimed at perpetuating big government. Second, the Governor has not really bargained in good faith.
Consider the fact that the pro-union “Prevailing Wage” measures remain in place —thus costing the citizens of this state MILLIONS and are aimed at rewarding union supporters. When you begin negotiations with many things “off the table” as this administration has done, why should the Republicans help out by raising taxes on everyone else?
A “promise” to work towards reducing state jobs by 600 is just that – a promise. If you want to save tax dollars, prevent a paycut for state employees and TRULY reduce the size of government, cut 2000 jobs now. Sure, we will pay unemployment, but we will not thereafter pay health benefits and pensions for those 2000 people. And the remaining state employees won’t lose their salary.
If a Republican member of the General Assembly votes for tax increases, they should be sent home in 2010.
Just my opinion.
Bruce Rogers, Esq
Editor’s note: My friend, Mr. Rogers will be giving us running commentary on the 19th special election as his time permits. Mr. Rogers is uniquely qualified to know the ends and outs of the race. He is a former chairman of the Sussex County Republican Party.
cut 2000 jobs now
Which ones?
The door is always open for Republicans to submit a list of which jobs they propose to cut.
I’m not holding my breath.
“Which ones?”
Maybe if we could see some of the audits the government says it’s conducting we could answer that question.
Cut the deldot grass cutting crew and privatize it. save health insurance, over paid employees and legacy costs down the road.
Cut every other state ‘division director’ the jobs are nothing more than political pay back.
close state conference centers and meeting rooms like buena vista.
cut funding to UofD and Del Tech
stop seed program
cut 1/3 of DOE
close the delaware state heritage commission
Not to sound like a broken record but who runs the government? Reducing the government back to what it was a few years ago won’t destroy democracy. We would have to be able to move people around where they are needed. That is the problem with the hiring freeze. It is a good concept but leads to inefficiency. It takes 6 months to fill an important nursing home position which is treated the same as an admin position that was never needed.
Arthur, didn’t used to allow work release people to cut the grass? We could pay minimum wage with no benefit cost. Then put up to half that money against fines or for victims compensation.
So are we up to 2000 proposed specific job cuts yet? I’m listening…
noman again, it would be easier to talk about what jobs and programs could be cut after we saw what those audits were turning up.
… yet somehow it remains easy to demand 2000 job cuts immediately? When by your own admission there is not enough information to make those cuts.
I guess it is easy to make demands when you know someone else will have to make the hard decisions and take the heat for them.
How many state jobs were there in 2004? Was the state falling apart then apart from needed correction increases? Personally, I want to reclaim that 200 million that we just toss down the rat hole. See my post.
I just put up a post from resolutedetermination who couldn’t get a copy of the budget before the vote. That would be nice thing for the public to see before it’s passed.
BTW I should welcome Mr. Rogers as a guest poster. This won’t be his last one. I expect to post more from him while John Feroce is busy this summer– especially with the special election coverage.
In Maria’s thread above, I am asking how we deal with the impact of these hypothetical 2000 to be cut. Without substance, “retraining” is simply a buzz word. Without an industry to support the new skill, “retraining” is just an empty promise. 2000 go to the unemployment rolls, as Mr Rogers’ acknowledges, but what about those bennies? Tell me who would be able to afford COBRA, especially on unemployment? That would be another impact that no one seems to mention as a consequence.
Why are consequences never regarded? They weren’t regarded as the payroll fattened to get us here, and they don’t seem to be regarded when hack-and-slash is the popular response.
That is a good point. My problem is that there hasn’t been an appropriate review of each department to find out where employees are needed and where they aren’t. It takes any long term value out of the hiring freeze.
We can expect a few nominal Republicans to stab the taxpayers in the back. How will they get paid pack for such treachery? There must be a lot of jobs that Markell will be handing out to some nominal Republicans.
we have three times as manny state employees than we had when Mike Castle handed over the keys of the Gov’s Mansion to Tom Carper.
is the state three times better?
are we three times safer?
is the econ dev dept bringing in 3 times the new employers?
is public education 3 times better?
Did our population increase 3 times over what it was back then?
Even that question can be answered, no.
The only thing I can think of is that my experience with the DMV in Dover might be 3 times better. A five second wait at the DMV is great so it is really tough trying to decide if it is worth paying for 3 times the employees.
The DMV is DE is much better than when I was growing up in MA. My parents would have to take the day off to renew their registration, because the line would run out of the door an hour after they opened, and they would be there past noon.