Economy & Small Business

Building Opportunity from the Ground Up

IPoD supports a Delaware economy that supports small businesses, protects our incorporation revenue, rewards hard work, and puts local communities first.

Building a Delaware Economy That Works for Everyone

Delaware's economy should reward hard work, support local entrepreneurship, attract quality jobs, and make it easier for families and small businesses to thrive. Economic policy should strengthen local communities, expand opportunity, and make government a partner to job creators rather than an obstacle in their way. The Independent Party of Delaware believes Delaware needs an economy built from the ground up - one that supports small businesses, respects workers, encourages innovation, protects taxpayers, and keeps Delaware competitive without handing special advantages to politically connected insiders.
Our goal is simple: make Delaware the best state in America to start a business, raise a family, hire workers, and build a future.

Support Small Businesses, Not Just the Well-Connected

Small businesses are the backbone of Delaware's economy. They create local jobs, keep money circulating in our communities, and give Delaware its unique character. Yet too often, government policy is easier for large, well-connected interests to navigate than it is for the neighborhood restaurant, family contractor, local shop, independent healthcare provider, farmer, or first-time entrepreneur. Delaware should prioritize small business growth by reducing unnecessary red tape, simplifying compliance requirements, improving access to state resources, and making sure economic development programs are available to local businesses - not just those with lobbyists and political connections.

IPoD supports policies that make it easier for Delawareans to open, operate, and expand small businesses.

Reduce Red Tape and Make Government Easier to Work With

Starting and running a business should not require an attorney, consultant, or insider knowledge of government bureaucracy. Delaware should streamline licensing, permitting, inspections, and regulatory compliance so entrepreneurs can spend more time serving customers, hiring workers, and creating value.

IPoD supports improving online systems, reducing duplicative paperwork, speeding up approvals, and requiring state agencies to regularly review regulations that impose unnecessary burdens on small. Government should protect workers, consumers, and the public interest - but it should not make it harder than necessary for honest Delawareans to earn a living.

Invest in Workforce Development and Skilled Trades

Delaware employers across many industries struggle to find qualified workers. At the same time, many Delawareans are looking for better-paying jobs, career advancement, and practical pathways into stable employment.

IPoD supports stronger workforce development programs that connect education, apprenticeships, trade schools, community colleges, employers, and adult retraining opportunities. Delaware should expand access to skilled trades, healthcare training, construction careers, manufacturing, logistics, technology, agriculture, and other high-demand fields. Not every successful career requires a four-year degree. Delaware should respect and support multiple pathways to success, including trades, certifications, apprenticeships, entrepreneurship, and technical education.

Protect Delaware's Corporate Franchise - End Political Favoritism

Delaware should remain one of the most business-friendly states in America, especially by protecting the corporate franchise system, the Court of Chancery, and the legal stability that generates major revenue for the state. Delaware's incorporation system is one of the state's most important economic assets. For generations, Delaware has benefited from its national leadership in corporate law and its reputation as the preferred legal home for businesses across the country. That system helps fund schools, healthcare, public safety, transportation, and other core services without requiring Delaware families and small businesses to carry the entire burden through higher personal taxes. At the same time, being business-friendly should not mean giving special treatment to politically connected insiders. Delaware can protect its incorporation revenue while also demanding transparency, accountability, and fairness in economic development.

IPoD supports a balanced approach: defend Delaware's incorporation franchise, preserve the integrity and independence of Delaware's courts, avoid policies that drive businesses to incorporate elsewhere, and use Delaware's unique position to strengthen the broader economy for working families, small businesses, and local communities. Delaware should protect what works - while also building a stronger, more diversified economy that does not
rely too heavily on any single source of revenue.

Keep Delaware Competitive Without Special Deals for Insiders

Delaware should be competitive in attracting and retaining employers, but economic development should be fair, transparent, and accountable. Public incentives, when used, should be tied to measurable results, including job creation, wages, local hiring, long-term investment, and benefits to Delaware communities. Delaware should compete by offering a strong workforce, efficient government, reasonable taxes, reliable infrastructure, safe communities, high-quality schools, and a high quality of life - not by handing out special deals to insiders while small businesses struggle with rising costs and confusing rules. A pro-business state should also be a pro-taxpayer state. Delawareans deserve to know that public resources are being used wisely.

Help Main Streets and Local Communities Thrive

A healthy economy is not only measured by corporate profits or state revenue. It is measured by whether local communities are thriving. Delaware's small towns, downtowns, beach communities, rural areas, and neighborhood business districts all need policies that support local commerce.

IPoD supports revitalizing Main Streets by encouraging small business development, improving walkability and infrastructure, supporting local restaurants and shops, expanding access to parking where needed, and helping entrepreneurs fill vacant storefronts. Economic growth should not be limited to Wilmington or the most politically connected areas of the state. Kent and Sussex County, rural communities, and smaller towns deserve serious attention and investment.

Lower the Cost of Doing Business

Rising costs hurt both businesses and consumers. Higher energy bills, insurance costs, rent, taxes, labor costs, and compliance expenses make it harder for small businesses to survive - and those costs are often passed on to Delaware families.

IPoD supports policies that reduce the cost of doing business responsibly, including energy affordability, regulatory reform, tax simplicity, infrastructure improvements, and efforts to reduce unnecessary fees and administrative burdens. When small businesses are squeezed by rising costs, Delawareans pay the price through higher prices, fewer jobs, and fewer local options.

Expand Access to Capital for Local Entrepreneurs

Many Delawareans have the talent, work ethic, and ideas to start or grow a business but lack access to capital. This is especially true for first-time entrepreneurs, young people, veterans, rural business owners, and those without existing financial connections.

IPoD supports expanding access to small business financing through partnerships with local banks, credit unions, community lenders, and private investment. Delaware should help connect entrepreneurs with capital, mentorship, business planning support, and technical assistance - without creating wasteful or politically driven programs. The goal should be to empower entrepreneurs to build sustainable businesses, not create dependency on government.

Support Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Local Manufacturing

Delaware should be a state where innovators, builders, and entrepreneurs want to stay. We should support new industries while also strengthening traditional sectors like agriculture, construction, manufacturing, healthcare, tourism, logistics, and small-scale production.

IPoD supports policies that encourage innovation, local manufacturing, research partnerships, business incubation, and entrepreneurship. Delaware's size should be an advantage: a state small enough to move quickly, connect people, and solve problems efficiently. We should make Delaware a place where good ideas can become real businesses.

Strengthen Tourism, Agriculture, and Delaware's Local Economy

Tourism and agriculture are vital parts of Delaware's economy, especially in Kent and Sussex County. From beaches and small towns to farms, restaurants, markets, family-owned businesses, and agricultural producers, these industries support jobs and preserve Delaware's identity.

IPoD supports responsible policies that strengthen tourism, protect farmland, support farmers, improve rural infrastructure, and help local businesses benefit from Delaware's visitors and residents alike. Economic development should respect Delaware's communities, natural resources, and quality of life.

Make Delaware a Place Where Young People Can Build a Future

Delaware must do more to retain young workers, graduates, tradespeople, entrepreneurs, and families. Too many young Delawareans face high housing costs, limited career pathways, student debt, and the feeling that opportunity lies elsewhere.

IPoD supports building an economy where young people can afford to live, work, start businesses, buy homes, and raise families in Delaware. That means expanding career training, supporting small business creation, improving housing affordability, and attracting quality jobs with real upward mobility. A strong economy is one where the next generation sees a future here.

Our Commitment

The Independent Party of Delaware believes economic policy should serve the people of Delaware - not political insiders, lobbyists, or special interests. We support an economy that is pro-worker, pro-small business, pro-entrepreneur, pro-taxpayer, and pro-community. Delaware should be a state where hard work is rewarded, small businesses are respected, government is accountable, and opportunity is available to every person willing to build it.

IPoD will fight for an economy that puts Delaware families, small businesses, local communities, and Delaware's long-term financial future first.