Unlike the other tax cuts proposed in the Executive Budget, the elimination of the gross receipts tax on energy companies makes sense from a tax policy perspective. Most of the other tax cuts being proposed this year are designed to encourage firms to create jobs in areas of New York State where job creation is needed. Most of these tax cuts, however, do not have accountability mechanisms to ensure that the promised job creation actually materializes and only one has any kind of even quasi-public reporting on what has actually happened. Most are also badly targeted - including some areas with vibrant economies while excluding areas, such as the Bronx and Brooklyn, with extremely high unemployment rates. If New York State adopts tax breaks or other incentives in the name of job creation, it must establish standards that will ensure that the taxpayers of the state get their money's worth and that they get what they pay for.
Standards span wages, health care, full-time hours.
About half require or encourage health care coverage. Subsidies should not go to firms that violate environmental, worker safety, or other laws. Education must be protected from corporate welfare. Subsidies don't create markets. Retail and service businesses that serve local markets should not be subsidized except in extreme cases.