Senate Legislation Would Be Good for Businesses
I recently put forward legislation to create thousands of new jobs and to turn around the state’s economy. My “jobs plan” provides tax credits to businesses that create new jobs, eliminates the state corporate franchise tax for small businesses, and rolls back the personal income tax surcharge that hit small businesses last year.
This is a common sense, effective approach to job creation because it provides tax incentives which will allow more businesses to keep more money to invest in new jobs. My plan would save a business thousands of dollars for each new job created. The more a business pays a new employee, the greater the tax benefit. The tax credit would have minimal impact on the state budget because the new jobs would generate revenue for the state, and, if a new employee is hired off unemployment, the credit would be paid for with federal stimulus dollars within the unemployment fund. The simplicity of my plan is simultaneously its strength: give businesses incentives and the ability to stay and grow here and then leave them alone as they try and do so. Instead of repeatedly taxing and regulating them, why not reward businesses and manufacturers when they create new jobs and give them incentives to create more?
Unfortunately, businesses continue to leave New York State because the government spends too much and taxes too much. In order to keep businesses here and create jobs, I firmly believe the 2010-2011 budget must cut spending and lower the tax burden on New Yorkers. Last year, New York lost 269,000 jobs. This year, Governor Paterson’s budget projects that another 40,000 jobs will be lost. Instead of trying to reverse these trends, the leaders of the senate and the governor increased taxes on businesses by $3.6 billion last year, and this year, the governor has proposed cutting money for economic development programs in half. The time for action is long overdue, and the Senate Jobs Plan is the remedy. It is my hope that my colleagues in the state senate will adopt this plan before another job is lost and another small business closes its doors.
