Albany’s gameshow “economic development” programs are now proven failures – – and proven to be massive wastes of public money.

Reclaim New York has long warned that the state’s bribes for businesses are the wrong approach to fixing our economy. We’ve warned that handing out cash and sweetheart tax breaks to politically-connected companies and projects won’t help real New Yorkers and real small businesses grow.

It’s also just plain unfair and insulting to give breaks to a few companies while everyone else pays full freight for one of the worst tax environments in the country.

A new in-depth report from the USA Today Network shows just how big a rip-off these programs are from top to bottom.

Here’s what you should know: 

• The state is spending $8 billion every year on programs that fail at every level.
• The vaunted economic “Hunger Games”, or Regional Economic Development Councils, spent $4.4 billion since 2011. New Yorkers have no idea what results they’re getting for all this money.
  •  These councils and local entities spending the money have almost no job creation goals, and poor tracking of results.

• Local Industrial Development Corporations across the state created just 18 percent of the jobs they promised – spending $771,055 per job.
• Albany’s Hollywood giveaway – the Film & TV Tax Credit – spent $730 million since 2014.
  • Not only should New Yorkers not have to subsidize HBO’s “Girls” when they’re facing an affordability crisis, but the jobs “created” by this program are often short-term positions.

• There is a lack of transparency in reporting for all of these programs. Reports are too often late, have missing information, or cook numbers to make the results seem a little better than utter garbage.

Here’s what you can do right now:

Call and email your assemblyman in Albany. Tell them to support tax breaks for working New Yorkers and end payoffs to connected corporations NOW.

And/Or

Call and email your Senator in Albany. Tell them to support tax breaks for working New Yorkers and end payoffs to connected corporations NOW.

These programs are not working for New Yorkers. We can’t afford them.  They aren’t creating jobs. They’re a proven waste of money and riddled with conflicts of interest. It’s time Albany worked to improve the economy for everyone, not just politically-connected insiders. They can lead by ending the economic “Hunger Games” and lower taxes and regulations for all of us.

No more damning reports. No more shady deals. No more indictments. It’s time to stop these scams before they rip-off New York taxpayers again.

Sign up for Reclaim New York Initiative and remind politicians they work for you!