Delaware Tomorrow has a good post on the difference between “top-down, pay big bucks to bribe companies to move to Delaware” versus “Let Small Businesses Grow” in Delaware. It can be found here. I agree with Dave ‘s analysis — why continue to tax small business in Delaware to import future jobs to the State when existing businesses are here trying to grow.
That being said, I must congratulate the Governor and his economic development team in cutting the deal so that the remnants of Sallie Mae would move to Delaware. Obviously, the company was going to consolidate its operations either to Delaware or Virginia after the Democrats’ “Health Care Reform Act” eliminated private sector, government-backed student loans. What student loans have to do with health care is anybodies guess.
This deal sheds light on why the Markell Administration pushed for such a large increase in funds flowing into the “Strategic Fund”. You’ll note that the announcement took place after the budget passed with the new “Strategic Fund” money.
Delaware can certainly use the employment.
* The title of this post is taken, loosely, from the excellent movie: “A League Of Their Own“. I suspect that Sallie Mae considers itself in a league of its own at this point in time.
Thanks, Charlie. It is a great development if the jobs pan out, but I can’t shake the feeling of the reverse Robin Hood effect — tax the poor small business owners to give to the rich corporations with their promise of jobs. But Sallie Mae wanted to move here, and we were able to give them what they wanted to make it happen. So if it works out, it’ll be a positive for Delawareans.
I just wish that the administration had as much fervor for reform and for small businesses as they do for writing checks.