Delaware News Journal Delaware workers who filed for unemployment in 2020 won't have to pay state taxes on those benefits, thanks to an exemption that lawmakers made. It comes after more than 160,000 people filed for unemployment last year as a result of businesses shutting down temporarily or permanently due to Gov. John Carney's state of emergency orders to slow the spread of COVID-19. That number has continued to go up in 2021 as restrictions and business capacity limits, including for restaurants, persist. The General Assembly hastily filed and passed House Bill 65 as one of their first law changes of the year when starting the six-month legislative session in mid-January.