In the wake of criticism of the START-UP NY program’s early job-creation numbers, members of its project approval board discussed Friday whether to begin measuring jobs “indirectly” created by its tax breaks.
“Maybe it’s something that should be part of the requirements, or part of the follow-up information,” said Andrew Kennedy, chairman of the approval board. The two other approval board members were also supportive of the idea.
START-UP allows new and expanding businesses to exist in tax-free zones for 10 years on SUNY and other campuses across the state, plus a handful of private sites. Not all the tax-free zones are on traditional college campuses (some are in urban areas, for instance), and the idea behind counting “indirect” job creation would be to measure the multiplier effect of well-paying jobs created directly by the tax breaks.
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Lawmakers are already making noise about the economic develop plan’s performance a year in. On Friday, Capital New York reported that Robin Schimminger, chairman of the Assembly’s economic development committee, has said the program’s costs “far outweigh the benefits.” The program is set to receive millions for an advertising campaign from the just-enacted state budget.
According to a report recently released by Empire State Development, the program during its initial year created only 76 jobs and $1.7 million in investment.
The statistics for StartUpNY are dismal and we're taking a beating in the press and from some legislators because we spent $53 million on the program and got 76 jobs and $1.7 million in investment in return?
Let's change how we calculate the statistics and count "indirect" jobs by pulling the numbers out of our backsides and declaring them "real."
What a fabulous idea.
Thanks for posting this. As teachers here in this state it's easy to focus on just his educational atrocities, which are of course numerous, deep, and thorough. However, we must see Cuomo's educational ass number-based awful laws in the context of a much broader and equally disastrous neoliberal adventure he has taken the Empire State on.
ReplyDeleteHis economic vision, agenda, laws, legislation, and plans have amounted to a hell-scape journey through the playbooks of Laffer, Rand, Reagan, both Bushes, etc. Enormous tax breaks for wealthy corporations....some amounting to absolutely NO taxes, the use of public property for corporate profit....free use....and oh wait, the political/economic equivalent of prostituting your state: casinos. That has been Cuomo's economics for New York State....New York....you know, the centerpiece of American history since the 1600's. The home of the first finance, banking, industry, culture, trade, immigration, universities; the foundation state of the American melting pot; the F'ING HOME OF FDR and THE NEW F'ING DEAL!!!!! And Cuomo's BIG IDEA IS CASINOS AND NO TAXES FOR CORPORATIONS?!!??!!
It's a SIN!
Where is the progressive economic thinkin befitting the state? The creative stuff? The leading the nation stuff? Nowhere. Casinos. Casinos. That's his D'bag's vision! And then whoring out a once mighty and respected education system to ANY bidder and treating it's army if nationally respected teachers as if we caused the economic problems.
It's enough to get somebody really mad. Like historically mad.
And it is good and right and necessary that we as teachers, in our fight, remember to see our struggle in the broader economic context of Cuomo's economic awfulness. If we can craft a bigger narrative, our fight will be better for it.
It is truly amazing how this megalomaniac has, in the span of just 4 years, been able to single-handedly trash the formerly great state of New York. He is as morally corrupt as he is politically corrupt. I couldn't agree more about the casino push. That ship sailed 10+ years ago, not that was ever worth boarding. And we have four, maybe eight more years of his destructive policies. There seems to be no limit to the damage this many is willing to inflict in order to further his political ambitions. If America ever elects this madman president I am moving to Canada.
DeleteWhy isn't there a concerted push to investigate Cuomo?
ReplyDelete