CARL PALADINO WILL FOSTER A STRONG ECONOMY

THAT CREATES JOBS FOR THE PEOPLE

Buffalo builder Carl Paladino is the only candidate for Governor who has created honest,
good-paying private-sector jobs. He is the only candidate who has created and maintained
a fiscally sound employment opportunity for New Yorkers. Since he began his career
forty years ago, his companies have grown, thrived and continued to hire, train and
promote employees in New York.

Carl’s goals are high but attainable and he is the only candidate with the know-how and
experience to create a New York State that is fiscally sound and open for business.

New York State operates the most expensive government in the United States. We spend
$137 billion for 19 million people. That’s $7,211.00 per person or 60 percent more than
the national median. Our per capita tax burden is also 60 percent higher than the national
average and yet our upstate cities are among the poorest in the nation. Our cost of doing
business is the second highest in the nation. Unemployment hovers around 9 percent.
New York’s crumbling toll roads and bridges dissuade commerce. We have the highest
utility costs in America, prohibitive insurance costs, and Workers Compensation laws that
cause debilitating premiums.

So it is no surprise that New York’s net job-migration loss is the worst in the US. Most
job losses come from New York City, with many companies moving across the border to
New Jersey and Connecticut. With these losses comes a shrinking corporate and personal
income tax base and fewer dollars to expend.

Nevertheless, our elected officials continue to spend as if completely unaware of our

situation. They spend more than we bring in, forcing taxes higher and higher. They
allocate funding to hire thousands of new State workers, growing a massive government
with no money to pay for it, with no concern for the taxpayers covering the cost. State
employee salaries keep rising while private-sector salaries shrink.

Expansion of existing firms was the primary cause of what little job growth we saw in the
State. And we know that companies less than five years old create the majority of new
jobs. So it only makes sense to strive to retain our existing employers and to lure small,
young companies and entrepreneurs.

Other states are not our only competition. We are part of a global economy now and New
York must be competitive with other countries as well. Existing firms will only stay and
new firms will only come when the cost of doing business in New York is advantageous.

New York State government will only permanently support job growth if we lower the
size of our government and its spending so we can reduce taxes, fees and over-regulation.
Carl Paladino will create an atmosphere that helps private companies choose New York
State for their operations and thereby increase our private-sector job opportunities.
Carl is the only candidate who will put in the hard work and focus necessary to reduce
our spending so New York can cut taxes to free up capital for our existing companies to
grow and to attract small firms and entrepreneurs. He is the only candidate who will
strive to reduce utility costs, rebuild our infrastructure, institute tort reform and revise
Workers Compensation laws to reduce employer’s insurance premiums.

Our businesses need a tax reduction and access to capital in order to grow. To help our S-
corps, partnerships and LLCs, Carl will cut the personal income tax rate at every level.
His plan to phase out over three years the Corporate Franchise Tax for manufacturers and
creative industries and to eliminate the minimum corporate franchise tax on all businesses
statewide would free up significant capital for reinvestment and job creation in high-
paying jobs. This will also demonstrate to out-of-state or start-up firms that New York is
a place where they can compete and thrive. Carl will develop a new investment tax credit
for manufacturers. Banks will be encouraged to lend a percentage of their deposits to
qualified start-ups or incubating businesses through incentive programs.

To reduce New York’s local property taxes, Carl will encourage local governments to
adopt a uniform tax rate where commercial and residential property owners pay the same
rate per thousand. This would lower that tax burden for commercial property owners,
helping them to sustain and grow their businesses.

Simultaneously, Carl will cut $20 billion in NY’s Medicaid expenses, 14 percent of
which will be eliminated from the counties’ burden so they can lower their rates. Carl will
make consolidation and cost-cutting experts available to train and assist local
governments with lowering their expenses through appropriate consolidation of Industrial
Development Agencies, school districts, sewer districts, water districts, highway and
traffic departments, sanitation departments (with ability to outsource competitively to
private contractors), planning and codes departments, development departments, tax
collectors, assessment departments per County, local govern. Carl will encourage the
consolidation of villages, towns and cities, not by caveat but only by local referendum.

Carl will end the practice of the legislature pushing un-funded mandates down to the
counties that require local property tax increases.

New York State must simplify all zoning, permitting, and licensing processes so business
owners can spend more time and money growing their businesses rather than navigating
through each jurisdiction’s laws. Carl will reduce over-regulation as permitted by law.

In a Paladino administration, experts will scrutinize every program to find ways to reduce
its size and scope. Government development efforts - including job subsidies, power
allocations and IDA programs - will be overseen by one State agency for comprehensive
and equitable job development. Anti-competitive and selective subsidies intended to
solely serve a specific developer or business will be discontinued. The SEQR process will
be simplified and time lines will be restricted.
Carl will work to improve our sewer and water lines and other infrastructure, reduce or
abolish surcharges and other fees and in some cases replace them with true user fees
charging only those who use those State services. Carl will stop sprawl and make use of
our existing infrastructure.

Carl Paladino will also institute a policy of “buy New York whenever possible” on
projects funded by the State. Government bidding laws will be amended to favor New
York companies. If their bid is within 5 percent of the low bid, the New York-based
company will be permitted to match the low bid.

Carl also proposes a job development program called the Dignity Corps to create a
pathway to employment for the extended unemployed. New York’s able-bodied, non-
exempt public-assistance recipients and those seeking extended unemployment benefits
would be required to enter the program. Others who are out of work but not State
program recipients may voluntarily participate in the program.

Each Dignity Corps participant may access any of a number of available programs, all
geared toward guiding recipients out of public assistance and into self-reliant lives and
careers. Dignity Corps programs will be tailored to the needs of the individual recipients,
focusing as appropriate on educational advancement, discipline, job skills, physical
fitness, health, and social skills.

Dignity Corps participants may choose to live at home or, in the case of rural programs,
live in dormitory-style residences during their participation requirements. For live-in
participants, the State will make use of under-utilized, State-owned facilities and retrain
New York State employees who would otherwise be part of workforce reductions to
counsel and train participants.

Participants of the Dignity Corps labor force will work on local government, hospital and
other not-for-profit projects, maintain our State and local parks and help rebuild blighted
urban centers. In return for participation in the Dignity Corps, recipients will receive
earned compensation, learn new skills that will guide them to fulfilling jobs, and gain the
opportunity to earn a high school degree equivalent and/or points toward a higher
education degree. Participants will do so with the dignity of knowing they are productive,
contributing members of New York’s society.