Delaware Policy Choices Caused the Property Tax Problem By Charlie Copeland Center for Economic & Fiscal Policy September 24, 2025 The recent property tax reassessment in New Castle County (NCC) has stirred public debate, with homeowners facing higher tax bills while many commercial properties saw their assessments fall. On the surface, this might seem like a quirk of appraisal methodology. However, a deeper examination reveals a more fundamental truth: Delaware and NCC's eco

PJM Challenges the Narrative: What’s Really Driving Higher Electric Bills Rethinking Delaware's energy mandates and their impact   By  David T. Stevenson , Director Center for Energy & Environmental Policy September 9, 2025 PJM Interconnection, the organization that manages the electric grid for 13 states including Delaware, has confirmed what the Caesar Rodney Institute (CRI) has long argued: state mandates are raising bills and straining reliability. Delaware policymakers n

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Delaware's Top Revenue Sources: A Decade of Change    Tracking Delaware's Tax Shifts and What's Ahead By Charlie Copeland Center for Economic & Fiscal Policy September 6, 2024     "Sometimes called Delaware's 'hidden sales tax,' the tax is levied on the seller of goods and services in the state, rather than the consumer."-- Jonathan Starkey, former News Journal reporter and current Chief of Staff to Governor Carney writing about Delaware's Gross Receipts Tax.       In 2014, t

A quiet energy revolution is underway. Closed nuclear power plants are reopening, and new small modular reactors (SMRs)-using both traditional and advanced technologies-are under development, totaling more than three gigawatts of planned capacity. These plants are projected to begin generating electricity between 2027 and 2032, and national targets aim to triple nuclear capacity by 2050...

The Eight-Year Priorities of the Carney Administration By Charlie Copeland Center for Economic & Fiscal Policy August 9, 2024   "When somebody says it's not about the money, it's about the money." - H.L. Mencken   Politicians give many speeches and say many different things. They usually want to pander to the listening audience, whether a room full of partisans or a one-to-one conversation with a voter. But what they cannot obfuscate is where they spend the money. That is whe

The proposed New Castle County data center project—known as Project Washington and backed by developer Starwood Digital Ventures—could significantly affect Delaware's electricity supply and pricing. The project plans to buy power from Delmarva Power, with only limited on-site diesel or natural gas backup...

Although Delaware's regular legislative session ended on June 30, House Bill 145 (HB 145), a privacy-protecting bill, remains active. This is a crucial time for Delawareans to speak up-lawmakers are continuing to review bills, meeting with constituents, and preparing for the next session. It doesn't take a constitutional scholar to recognize the risk of letting government agencies collect data on thousands of innocent people just because someone, somewhere, might have done so

Campaign Finance in Delaware - The Dark Money Continues By Charlie Copeland Center for Economic & Fiscal Policy July 11, 2024   "A dependence on the people is no doubt the primary control on the government." -James Madison (Fourth President of the United States)     Representative Eric Morrison, D-Newark, introduced a couple of bills ( HB 291  &  HB 292 ) to fix some "lingering recommendations" from the  2013 campaign finance report  issued by former Delaware Supreme Court Ch

 A bill sponsored by Sen. Laura Sturgeon, Senate Bill 165, titled "An Act to Amend Title 14 of the Delaware Code Relating to Student Improvement Component," has just passed in the Delaware General Assembly. The bill requires the Delaware Department of Education to pilot a new method of teacher evaluation that allows teachers to choose how they are evaluated and considers factors that may negatively affect student performance, such as student absences, noncompliance, or a lack