WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) - Members of the legislature's budget-writing committee have caved to pressure from local governments and will reverse a decision to give the state a larger share of real estate transfer taxes.
Currently, the 3 percent tax is split evenly between state and county governments, each getting 1.5 percent.
Members of the Joint Finance Committee agreed last week that the state should start taking 2 percent of the tax starting July 1, 2016, to help close an expected revenue gap of more than $160 million in fiscal 2017.
But local government officials throughout the state decried the change, saying it would impose serious financial hardships for them.
Finance committee leaders bowed to the local concerns and planned to reconvene Tuesday to restore the even tax split between the state and counties.
