An upstate pro-business group says regions of the state north of Westchester need special attention in the coming months to help the floundering economy. The group Unshackle Upstate is proposing a series of tax cuts, as well as a start to hydrofracking as the remedy.
Unshackle Upstate’s Brian Sampson unveiled a five point plan that he says could help revive the long troubled upstate economy. The pro business group wants a phase out of the corporate franchise tax for upstate-based companies. They also want to repeal an energy assessment on upstate manufacturers. They advocate cutting the state sales tax in half in counties with the worst unemployment and population decline. And they want to make it easier for New Yorkers making less than $50,000 a year by reducing their taxes by 25%.
“The upstate economy is suffering, it’s teetering,” Sampson said. “We need help today.”
The plan comes amid reports that Governor Andrew Cuomo, at a private fundraiser, said he expects to push tax cuts in 2014. Also, Senate Republicans, who lead the Senate in a coalition with a small group of break away Democrats are starting a series of hearings on tax reform.
The group’s Brian Sampson say he believes chances are good for passage this year, and he says the money for the nearly $750,000 plan is there, even with the state facing another budget deficit.
“We’re talking about a legislature that somehow found close to a billion dollars this past budget to spend on education,” Sampson said.
Unshackle Upstate and other business groups have long called for regulatory reform, and getting rid of some collective bargaining rules, including the Triborough Amendment in New York’s Taylor Law. Under the rules, public workers can’t strike, but they are allowed to continue to work under the terms of their previous agreements after a contract expires. Government employers are not allowed to cut back on pay or benefits for the workers.
After the presentation, Sampson admitted that with the 2014 election year fast approaching, it might be easier to win tax cuts than to convince the legislature to repeal regulations favored by labor unions, which he called “political grenades.”
“Tax cuts are black and white,” he said. “It’s a much easier thing to do.”
There is a fifth proposal that the business group is pushing: the start of the gas drilling process known as hydrofracking in New York, which they say would create thousands of high paying jobs. There’s been a defacto five year moratorium on the drilling. Most recently, Governor Cuomo has said he’s waiting for his Health Commissioner to complete a health review. Sampson says the process has dragged on for too long.
“This is an instance where the governor has waffled,” Sampson said.
But he says while the political climate may be right in 2014 for tax cuts, he predicts it will not be the year that hydrofracking is finally approved in the state.
But Sampson says he expects a pilot program in communities that want fracking could start in 2015.
Business group pushes for tax cuts, fracking to revive upstate economy
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