A few weeks ago, the governor proposed what he is dubbing the Tax-Free NY Program.  Understanding that his success as governor greatly depends on whether he can provide the leadership to help turn around New York’s languishing economy, Cuomo is pushing the legislature to pass what he calls “a game-changing initiative.” 

I disagree with the governor and think that this program, while it may provide some economic stimulus, is really more of the same of what has been proposed in New York in the past. And, it fails to accomplish what our state really needs, which is broad-based tax relief.

         In essence, the governor’s “Tax-Free NY” program would give a series of tax breaks to new businesses that locate in New York within a certain radius of a state university or community college. The tax breaks are substantial. The companies that operate in these tax-free zones will be able to run 100 percent tax-free — that is, there will be no income tax for employees and no sales, property, or business tax.

         In order to locate in one of these tax-free zones, the business must be a new business to the state and the business’s activity must align with the academic mission of the university or college sponsoring the tax-free zone. Finally, the businesses that locate in the tax-free zones, in order to keep these tax benefits, must maintain the new jobs that they brought to the state.

         The fact that the governor has recognized that taxes in New York are too high and that they have been detrimental to job creation, particularly in upstate New York is positive.  Indeed, in a speech the governor gave in May, he said, “New York’s reputation as the high-tax state, the tax-capital state, is a killer when it comes to economic development.”  Here, here. This is actually an evolution of thought from many in state government, particularly many in the Democratic majority in the State Assembly who feel that we don’t tax enough in New York.

         But if the governor recognizes that taxes are job killers, then why is he proposing a program that is complex, that will be available only to a few, and provides no relief to those who have been suffering under New York’s high tax burden for decades. Why not provide broad-based tax reduction that will provide everyone with relief.  It is certainly needed in light of the fact that the Tax Foundation ranked New York’s 2013 Business Climate Index dead last. We also lead the nation with the highest state and local tax burden. Our gas taxes, energy taxes, and health-care taxes are also either the highest or near the highest in the nation. 

         Our workforce, our educational institutions, our natural resources, and our geographic location are all assets that should help grow our economy. Instead of enacting complex economic-development schemes that have the potential for political manipulation, like the governor’s proposed Tax-Free NY Program, we need a bold and easily understandable economic-development strategy that will make New York the economic engine it once was. This strategy should start with broad-based tax relief, whether it is a focus on income tax, energy taxes, gas taxes, property taxes, health-care taxes, or all of the above.

William (Will) A. Barclay is the Republican representative of the 120th New York Assembly District, which encompasses most of Oswego County, including the cities of Oswego and Fulton, as well as the town of Lysander in Onondaga County and town of Ellisburg in Jefferson County. Contact him at barclaw@assembly.state.ny.us, or (315) 598-5185.

I’m not a big fan of gossip. I just look at it as a big waste of time. Even though I’m not that interested, I’m not oblivious to the fact that it drives discussion among many people. Most of the time, when gossip takes over, I just become a fly on the wall. The juicy story, or denigrating someone for the sake of making myself feel better, is just useless to me. However, what is interesting to me is the interaction between those involved in the story-telling.

It usually starts out like this … “Did you hear about Joe? He lost $3 million in that deal. What an idiot …”. And so it goes. The others join in to tell you how they warned him about it, point to the many failures that Joe has had or discuss how they would have done the deal differently. The conversation starts to make everyone sitting around the table feel pretty good about themselves for the next 10 minutes. It moves on and nobody is the wiser for what just happened and the opportunity that was lost. The opportunity that I am talking about is the ability to understand that failure is a great thing.

I tend to think of Joe’s failure in another way. He probably learned one hell of a lesson by losing $3 million. And to be honest, he was probably pretty successful in the past to be in a position to lose that $3 million. Some of the greatest fortunes on the planet have been made as a result of lessons learned by entrepreneurs failing time and again, until they finally figure it out.

When we take a risk, we are acknowledging the possibility of failure. Instead of back-room gossip, we should be celebrating those that risk their neck to become successful. The lesson in failure that I think this region can benefit from is the understanding that without failure, there is no change. And at its core, change can be an amazing catalyst towards achieving groundbreaking success. And therein lies the rub. Changing our mindset as a region will propel us to heights we never could have imagined. 

Economically speaking, the past is in the past. We need to accept that an increased volume of failure means success is just around the corner. We constantly yearn for the past greats of Eastman Kodak, IBM, GE, Xerox, and others. Yet, until recently, little had been done to truly drive a renaissance of the business community. We must understand that at this very moment many more are trying to build the next great company right here in upstate New York. It will happen — period, end of story. It will happen in multiple occurrences. It’s just going to take some time. Over the next 10 years, we’ll probably have a front row seat to a lot failure … and that’s a good thing. No disrespect to George, but one day we’ll forget all about that Eastman guy. 

Kyle Blumin is an entrepreneur in residence at Syracuse’s StartFast Venture Accelerator. He is a Syracuse native and serial entrepreneur with three successful exits in diverse industries. Contact him on Twitter at @kyleblumin