Crabby in Baltimore

What gets the Baltimore Sun's editorial board more pissed than Faidley's closing early? Delaware mooching off Maryland by exploiting a tax loophole. In jest or not, the eds go all out:

SOMEBODY SMASHES your car windshield to steal the quarter sitting on the dashboard. He's 25 cents richer, but you're out 500 bucks. A fair transaction? Apparently, it's not a problem for authorities in Delaware.

Yes, that's right, our neighbors to the east seem to have the instincts of a second-rate criminal -- at least when it comes to business dealings. Recently, Delaware created a new type of corporate tax dodge that is breathtaking in its audacity. Its sole purpose? To help large companies hide profits from states like Maryland.

[...]

In a different era, this kind of behavior might have been resolved with a slap of the glove and pistols at 20 paces. Wars have been fought over less. And, by the way, how much of a fight could this tiny, ethically challenged state put up anyway? It'd be a cakewalk. When it's over, we'd keep the beach resorts and let New Jersey handle the rest.

Delaware is welcome to tax its own citizens any way it wants, of course, but when it starts stealing from its neighbors, there ought to be consequences.

Whoa, Zellie!

Frankly, hyperbole or not, they have a point: Delaware is a state that takes advantage of its neighbors by being a tax and litigation haven while not suffering the consequences because it's small enough to have the benefits of everybody elses' business outweigh the decreased revenue. It's like the Cayman Islands without the nice weather or a mobbed-up Moldovan bank without the charm.

Posted by rj3 at January 6, 2005 9:56 AM

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Posted by: Jeff at January 6, 2005 10:58 AM

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