There Are No Shortcuts . . .

Per WKTV: Left, right ally against Cuomo's Start-Up NY

In a statement Wednesday, the coalition says Start-Up NY should be shut down pending a detailed audit following a report showing that so far the year-old program has created 76 of the nearly 2,100 jobs promised over five years in return for tax breaks.

Seventy-six jobs created with how many millions of tax dollars spent just to advertise this fiasco?  Even 2,100 jobs would be a drop in the bucket state-wide.

Start-Up New York rightly recognizes that one of New York State's main problems in attracting employers is its high rate of taxation.  So the program offers a 10 year tax break from all taxes.

But why would businesses flock to New York State for a special program when they would be better off in another state with generally lower taxes and operating costs? . . . in another state with more economic freedom?

If New York wants to beat the competition, it must at least offer the same degree of economic freedom as its competition, not as a special program, but as a matter of long term policy. But that would require rethinking state and local government -- shrinking it in an intelligent way -- to do and spend less.

The problem for Upstate NY is that our policy is made from the perspective of Manhattan where money is plentiful.  

From the Deseret News: How high taxes and regulation are killing one of the most prosperous states in the nation.  

For more than half a century, this huge region — once the nation’s breadbasket and a manufacturing capital — has been losing jobs, dollars and people. . . . 

Weather was certainly a contributing factor. . . . 

But other states — New Hampshire, Minnesota, North and South Dakota, Colorado — have similar weather and have not seen mass evacuation. The difference is that upstate New York is tethered to New York City, whose residents overwhelmingly support higher taxes, stricter regulation and bigger spending than the national averages. Those policies are blamed for upstate’s economic woes by many in the region. 

“Basically what you’ve got in New York is a state tax code and regulatory regimen written for New York City,” says Joseph Henchman, vice president for state projects at the Tax Foundation in Washington. “Legislators say, `Look, New York is a center of world commerce. Businesses have to be here. It doesn’t matter how high we tax them.’ I hear that a lot. But when you apply that same logic to upstate, the impact is devastating.”

The answer for Upstate NY isn't "Start-Up NY." Rather, it is granting Upstate NY a degree of freedom from the tax-and-regulate attitudes and policies fostered by the NYC Metro area.   That requires detailed planning. There are no shortcuts.