Milford chronicle., 1932-10-07
A PREGNANT THOUGHT
(From Sunday Starr

(frOm sunday Starr
In the course of a casual CONVEX
sation about taxation the other day
I Mr.. Pierre S. du Pont made a sug-
gestion which may point to an en-
tirely original method for taking
care of part of Delaware's tax prob
lem. Mr.. du Points idea is that since
we already supply a home for many
large corporations of the country
and the world why not extend legal
domicile also to wealthy individ-
uals, to whom we can offer adval-
tages not to be had in any other
State of the Union.
While we Delawareans complain
vigorously about the taxes imposed
upon us, and in some cases we are
fully justified, the fact is, that so far
as the carrying on of the States
! business is concerned, we are es-
pecially fortunate, and we probably
pay less for what we get than the
people of any other State.
The two great expenditures of
Delaware are for schools and roads.
The money for the first comes from
income taxes on our own citizens
and from franchise taxes on the cor
pOrations chartered by the State.
The Highway Departments funds
come chiefly from the gasoline tax
and from motor fees and fines.
While the costs of these two major
activities of the State are enormous
the School Fund has surplus well
up in the millions and income legal
ly allocated to that fund so far ex-
ceeds its needs that for the last two
years the income taxpayers have re-
ceived rebates of fifty per cent of
the amounts assessed against them.
So, too, the Highway Department is
amply financed.
Both these State Departments
have probably passed the point of |
maximum expenditure, for our |
school building program is almost |
completed and all our important |
roads have been built. So the time is |
soon coming, if it is not already |
here, when there will be a big re-
duction in the amounts of money
required, and important readjust-
ment and re-allocation of our in
come will be made
When that has been done Della
ware will be able to offer as attrac-
tive inducements to the very rich
individuals of other States to be-
come legal residents as we now pre-
sent to big corporations, and it
ought to be feasible to prevail upon
many of them to have Delaware
lawfully and formally adopt them as
In addition to the usual method of
acquiring citizenship, by actually
living here permanently, it is Mr.. du
Points idea that the State might is
sue formal citizenship certificate
upon the compliance with certain
conditions, thus making the persons
so adopted amenable to and pro- .
-ected by our laws. The conditions ,
need not be onerous and
could be devised to be as convenient,
Is useful and as inexpensive as our
corporation laws now are to the
many big corporations domiciled 2
lere and operating under our char +
er. =
For instance a fee of $1,000 might /
e charged for the issuance of the s
ormal certificate of citizenship and n
his, doubtless, readily would be 2
aid by many wealthy men and wo- e
nen who would prefer to pay taxes
ere rather than in States where
AK requirements are burdensome or r
lquisitional.
1t seems to us that the suggestion
as enough merit to warrant the
lost careful consideration and fav-
rable action unless some serious
bjection is discovered.