“Governor Hochul is continuing her assault on the suburbs, which she signaled during her State of the State address. As we learned today, she is proposing to take away local zoning decisions from suburban towns and villages to produce hundreds of thousands of housing units. In addition, the governor is proposing to increase New York's disastrous MTA Payroll Tax. To be clear, this is a tax on suburban jobs and the governor should know a tax on jobs will not help create new ones. New York state is last in the nation when it comes to affordability and job recovery from the pandemic. The governor's proposal fails to address either of these critically-important issues which have forced millions of New Yorkers to seek better opportunities in other states. The governor's budget only continues these failed policies.”

“Our state budget has now ballooned again by the billions creating the largest budget in this state’s history. Governor Hochul once again doubled down on cashless bail and failed to provide any direction on fixing it, ultimately leaving it up to the same Legislature that passed the ill-advised measure in the first place. Then, to hurt working families, Governor Hochul increased the famed MTA Payroll Tax on an already-overtaxed business community. Although she gave some attention to mental health issues, childcare and education around the state, she failed to mention a plan for school lunch programs. Governor Hochul needs to truly reevaluate her proposed plan and focus on the issues that are clear to the taxpayers of this state.”