Governor Pataki is exactly right: Upstate New York's economy is getting better, but it's not as strong as it can be if we continue to improve our state's business climate.
The Governor's new proposals to cut taxes on manufacturing employers will pay off. Eliminating the alternative minimum tax and enacting a single sales factor for manufacturers will reward companies, rather than punishing them with higher taxes, when they invest in New York.
In much of Upstate New York, manufacturing pays the salaries, directly or indirectly, for at least one in every three workers. Our state leaders have achieved enormous progress in making our climate for manufacturing more competitive. There's more to be done, and the Governor's proposals will lead the way.
We've already seen how changing state policies in Albany can pay off in new business and job growth across the state. From 1982 through 1994, New York trailed far behind the rest of the country in attracting new industrial investment. In 1995, when Governor Pataki and the Legislature established a new, more friendly attitude toward business, growth in industrial investment in New York outpaced the rest of the country. And the latest Census report on manufacturing, issued this past November, shows the Empire State has become a national leader in capital spending by manufacturers. The nearly $5.9 billion that manufacturers invested in the Empire State in 1998 represented an increase of 18 percent from two years earlier, significantly higher than the national average of 11 percent. New capital investment is a crucial indicator of corporate executives' confidence, and business confidence in New York has soared.
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