Today’s release of the unemployment rate by the Department of Labor shows October’s rate at 10.2 percent, an increase from September’s 9.8 percent, putting unemployment at the highest it has been since 1994. Additionally, analysts are predicting the rate will continue to rise. In New York state, the current employment rate is 8.8 percent and Monroe County is at 8.3 percent.
When the New York state legislature reconvenes, it is important to resist the urge to raise taxes. Taxing private sector, small businesses that employ the majority of our community will not only cause an even higher increase in the unemployment rate, it would drive them from our state to locations where they can operate their business without being taxed to death. While the unemployment rate in Monroe County is better than the national or state rate, families already are struggling to make ends meet and businesses are struggling to stay afloat. I will continue to be your taxpayer watchdog and urge my colleagues to go to the root of the problem and repair the dysfunction at the core of our budget woes rather than taxing the hardworking citizens of this state and the small businesses that employ them.