New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's tax break program,which he had promoted as a way to boost the state's economy, brought about only 408 jobs in its first two years, while costing more than $50 million, or $122,549 for each job, according to a three-months' overdue report issued this weekend.
"The Empire State Development Corporation delayed and buried this report because the results prove the strategy failed," Doug Kellogg, spokesman for Reclaim New York, a nonprofit group that calls for government reform and accountability, told The New York Post. "The government must stop playing venture capitalist and fix the tax and regulatory problems that make New York the second-to-worst business-tax environment in the country."
The program,
"Start-Up New York," gives companies tax breaks in exchange for adding jobs. So far, more than 159 companies have signed up, promising to add 4,140 jobs over the next five years.
Critics say state spending on ads and the loss of tax revenue are contributing to the program's failures, and Assembly Republican Minority Leader Brian Kolb called the program “long on promises but woefully short on actual jobs.”
He also slammed the state's economic development agency for putting out the report over the Fourth of July holiday weekend, when taxpayers would not likely notice its release.
"If Start-Up NY was truly effective, New Yorkers would not have waited three months for an update and details would not have been secretly posted on a Web site late on a Friday afternoon," said Kolb, calling for changes to New York's tax system.
However, Start-Up Executive Director Leslie Whatley, who recently announced she is leaving to work in the private sector, said she is still proud of the program, and said the report was delayed because of "growing pains."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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