Tax the tourists for visiting Delaware

We all want to pay for the roads we need. So let’s up all the DMV fees in Delaware. Has anybody noticed the amount of trailers licensed in Maine? Why — because other states have figured out how to get revenue from out-of-staters, to pay for their public projects. So, here we go again, loading the burden for infrastructure to support our tourist industry squarely on the backs of the people who live in Delaware. Oh, and not on the millionaire entrepreneurs, who build housing, and develop retail establishments, but let’s tax the working stiffs who have to license their cars. As I have mentioned before, we need to tax more of the tourists who come to town and drive the need for all these roads and yes, overpasses — to try and keep people zooming to the beach. Any economist will tell you that demand for something is elastic. That means, at some point, the price of coming to Delaware will be less attractive than competing beaches, vacation homes, and the like. We are a long way from being too expensive. Delaware is the “Diamond State” with the bargain-basement prices for real-estate taxes, gasoline, sales tax and beach fees. So, when do we give Delaware residents some special treatment? I think it’s time to raise some of the costs of coming to our state, and offer rebates to the residents of Delaware. Of course we could cut the size of Delaware state and local government, but then, where would people work for a decent middle-class wage? That is why people like Sen. Bonini [R-16 (Dover South)] can portray the “cost cutter,” and yet, nothing ever gets cut. Notice how many overpasses have mysteriously been built in his district: North Frederica, Thompsonville, Bowers Beach, and now, the Sports Complex. So, cost-cutting yes, but in the end, who is going to really cut the job of the guy next door who works for the state? Let’s raise the gas tax and rebate the increase to the Delaware taxpayers. Tourists will still come and pay their share of the costs of infrastructure, but pay for the ride.

Emmett Venett Milford

Editor’s note: Maine has threatened to make corporations actually headquartered in Maine but incorporated in Delaware (e.g., L.L. Bean) reincorporate in Maine instead, if Delaware makes Delaware-based trailer owners who register said trailers in Maine reregister them in Delaware. Maine likely could make good on this threat, and the loss of corporate franchise taxes collected by Delaware then would far exceed the increased fees Delaware could collect for the trailers.