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DeFrancisco says state needs tax cuts to revive economy, retain residents

Tom Magnarelli
/
WRVO News File Photo

Gov. Andrew Cuomo brings his State of the State speech across the state this week, with a scheduled stop in Syracuse on Wednesday. He’s expected to use these speeches to outline his agenda for the year, as well as announce local programs and initiatives. But while Cuomo is promoting his agenda, one Senate Republican has ideas of his own.

Sen. John DeFrancisco (R-Syracuse) says his priority in the coming legislative session is making New York more attractive to all kinds of businesses. He says statistics don’t bode well for the economic future of the state, despite the dozens of economic development program promoted by the Cuomo administration in recent years. 

"There’s more and more people leaving the state of New York. In fact this year, despite the high immigration into the state of New York, we actually lost people in the state of New York.

DeFrancisco says an expensive business climate and high taxes are among the reasons people are fleeing the state, so it’s the issue that needs to be addressed.

"The way to do that is have cross-the-line tax cuts and energy expense cuts and the like. Not a Start Up NY program where the governor hands out, at his discretion, millions upon millions of dollars to try to get new companies to come in.” 

DeFransisco, who is deputy Senate majority leader, says the lesson from the Cuomo administration approach, is that all businesses should benefit from state help, not just those chosen by politicians.

"I just think we’ve got to go back to realizing everybody should  benefit from programs in the state of New York. Not those that happen to be the bigger businesses, or the people that promise great things, and in many instances, never deliver.”

A couple of multi-million economic development projects in central New York lie dormant right now. They include the film hub in DeWitt, a $15 million state project developers said would bring 350 jobs to central New York. Its future is unsure after the project became embroiled in a corruption probe involving SUNY Polytechnic Instititute, which owns it.

Ellen produces news reports and features related to events that occur in the greater Syracuse area and throughout Onondaga County. Her reports are heard regularly in regional updates in Morning Edition and All Things Considered.