When I was elected to the Assembly, I promised to stand up for every family, small business, taxpayer and homeowner. While serving in state government presents unique challenges, I have fought hard to uphold that promise.

Since day one, I refused to follow the beaten path, but blazed my own trail. As one of the founding members of the RemaiNY Task Force, I have traveled the state to meet with educational and community leaders, business owners and young New Yorkers. These working groups have presented a great opportunity for me to gather community input and work together toward achieving a more prosperous New York.

Whether I'm speaking with a blue-collar union family back home in Western New York, a small- business owner in Long Island or manufacturing company in the Southern Tier, the consensus is clear: high taxes are the biggest roadblock to economic prosperity.

We can see that playing out every day through the sheer impact that the financial meltdown has had on our state. For decades, the state's pro tax-and-spend philosophy discouraged entrepreneurship, punished job creators and overburdened middle-class families. When the crisis hit, our economy was too heavily damaged by the state's high tax and oppressive regulatory environment to cope with it.

The signs were there. Since 2000, New York has lost over a million jobs as businesses move operations to other states, a direct result of New York's business taxes (currently the highest in the nation). This loss of employers has hurt blue-collar workers and forced our best and brightest young minds - our future business leaders - to make use of their skills elsewhere after college.

The loss of skilled workers and the unwillingness of top-flight companies to invest in New York have forced state government to shift the tax burden onto middle-class families and small businesses, threatening our ability to compete in the global market over the long term.

It's clear that something needs to change; but it won't come easy. Despite the progress we have made, there are many challenges ahead, and we have a lot of ground to make up.

In the coming year, I will continue to travel and meet with constituents around the state and work across party lines to find creative solutions to lowering the tax burden on struggling Western New York families. It's time to take a cue from other states and to stop looking at budding entrepreneurs and a strong small-business community as a source of tax revenue, but as the job creators that can help build a thriving, modern economy.