Things that we as a State need to think about: Part III. Citizenry

My third suggestion envelops the core of our Citizenry itself. We, as Delawareans young and old, need to re-examine accountability. Not only should our educational system have a role in developing our children’s lives, we need to begin to hold parents accountable. We must coordinate with current service groups, such as the Delaware Girls Initiative, to ensure our efforts are neither duplicative nor underinclusive. Such programs ensure that all young parents understand the responsibility of raising a family.

The extent of parental accountability could be stretched into the criminal context as well, but the balancing and evaluation of positive and negative effects of such a program must be examined first. The costs of these types of accountability, reach-out, and social welfare and development programs can be done on a sector-by-sector, community-by-community, or city basis, in conjunction with existing State efforts. An examination of the DNREC and the state-wide recycling program can also be restructured on accountability-type grounds. The minimal costs of these community based accountability programs justify their continued development.

The revenue from the slot and racing industries and lottery systems can be increased. We should not fear the effects of more slots, either in our State or beyond our borders, and none of these ideas will alter the tourism industry in the least. To the contrary, a mass transit system will stimulate tourism. Revenue can also be streamlined with the development of a system such that all citizens pay their taxes through a professional, and any CPA can be encouraged to take on such clientele simply by offering a tax incentive. With professional tax assistance, not only do we ensure that the government is not getting any more than they should; we ensure that all citizens receive all to which they are entitled. A possible effect would be to determine whether any one sector of the State is unfairly taking advantage of our lesser knowledgeable citizens.

We can also investigate the tax structure itself and determine whether the more affluent citizens of the State are paying an equivalent proportion to the less affluent. We can also lower the tax rate for our poorest such that their hard earned income up to $15000 has no individual State tax assessed to it. The end result may be that the middle class has no tax changes, and with tax credit incentives for young parents involved in social development programs or environmentally-related breaks, it may even result in a net tax benefit. Accountability for our Administration with this regard ensures that the entire Public understands where our income goes and to what.

My hope is that these general ideas spark a Statewide response for more. These ideas certainly should not be construed as exhaustive by any means. Reaching these goals and others come at no uncertain costs, but can be done with a moderate shifting of resources as well as with the savings from the economies of scale that come with the aforementioned ideas.

Let's make it happen.