Winner Still Pushing New Upstate Jobs Plan

Albany, N.Y. –During debate on the floor of the New York State Senate not long ago, one prominent Senate Democratic leader said that three-way negotiations between the Democratic leaders of the Legislature and Governor David Paterson had reached a “critical stage,” but Republicans have been left out of those talks and Senator George Winner (R-C-I, Elmira) is wondering if state leaders are giving any consideration at all to a new jobs plan for upstate New York.

“Albany’s current leaders have failed over the past year to recognize the importance of private-sector economic growth as one fundamental way to effectively find a way out of this fiscal crisis.  They’ve tried to tax and spend their way out of it, and it hasn’t worked,” Winner said.  “Less state spending, lower state taxes, and the elimination of job-killing state regulations need to be a part of this debate, especially for the upstate region.  We’ll keep doing whatever we can to push the leaders in that direction.”  

At the start of the 2010 legislative session, Winner and his colleagues in the Senate Republican conference proposed a new strategy that they believe has been overlooked as a way to help New York strengthen its economy, lower taxes, and begin to create thousands of jobs across upstate New York.

It’s a plan that Winner still believes needs to be a cornerstone of this year’s final budget.

“New York needs to focus on jump-starting the private-sector economy.  This year’s budget must include steps to benefit small business growth, to recognize it as the economic engine that it can be  across the upstate region.  New York is still seen as a business unfriendly state.  That directly hurts upstate workers and their families, and entire communities, and it  has to change,” Winner said, noting that a report from the Tax Foundation last fall ranked New York’s business climate as the second-worst in America. 

The new Jobs Plan being pushed by Winner  includes proposals to:

-- establish a permanent, Constitutionally mandated cap on state spending that would limit year-to-year spending increases to no more than four percent, a move that Winner said would have saved state taxpayers more than $13 billion if it had been in place over the past five years;

-- establish a new Job Creation Tax Credit offering businesses, manufacturers, and other private-sector employers a refundable tax credit of up to a maximum of $5,000 for every new job they create.  The tax credit would be recurring for three years and would only be provided for new jobs that expand total payroll, equal to the amount of tax withholding for each new job.  For example, a new job paying $30,000 would provide an employer with a tax credit of about $1,150;

-- enact a five-year moratorium on any new taxes or fees on small businesses, manufacturers, and farms; eliminate the existing corporation franchise tax for small businesses; and more quickly phase out last year’s personal income tax increase for small businesses; and

-- enact a five-year moratorium on any new, state-imposed business regulations and red tape, together with the creation of state-level commission to identify state rules and regulations that continue to stand as obstacles to sustained economic growth and job creation.

-30-