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Taxes, State Spending, and Government Reform - top

• When local and state taxes are combined, New York State has the 2nd highest tax burden in the U.S., 34% higher that the national average.  Had state spending been kept at the rate of inflation, this year’s state budget would have been $39 billion lower, preventing the current $9.2 billion budget deficit.  Additionally, the state pays more than $6 billion a year to service its debt, and in four years that total will be over $7 billion.  With more than $1 out of every $10 in state tax revenue going to debt service, it is clear why Albany continues to have shortfalls in the budget.  New York needs to CUT SPENDING, LOWER TAXES, and STOP BORROWING! 
  
  
  • Steve Hawley has a proven record of fighting against Albany’s overtax & overspend policies.  Since 2008, Steve has voted against tax increases 73 times, totaling nearly $13 billion.
    
    
• Steve Hawley supports:
  
  
• Budget reform to stop Albany’s tradition of late budgets which continue to cost New Yorkers more and more.
• The elimination of unfunded mandates on our counties and local governments.
• Medicaid reform that will end the fraud that wastes $5 billion a year.
• A People’s Convention to Reform New York that will allow taxpayers – NOT SPECIAL INTERESTS – to make constitutional changes to state government.
• Ethics reform that will stop the corruption in Albany and make state government more accountable and transparent.
• Term limits for legislative leaders to end the status quo in the Capitol.

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Jobs and Economic Development - top

• New York State has more than 800,000 people out of work, and that number continues to grow.  As a result of having one of the highest combined costs of doing business, our state was hit particularly hard during the recession, but now, during a period of slow recovery, our leaders in Albany need to do everything possible to improve our economy and bring jobs back.  Sadly,  instead of addressing the skyrocketing property taxes that continue to drive businesses and jobs out of the state, they have chosen to continue passing bloated state budgets that increase taxes, and eliminate job-creating economic development programs. 
  
  
• Our state’s economy can be restored and Albany can help put people back to work by:
  
  
• Cutting government spending and alleviating the tax burden businesses face.
• Reforming the property tax formula so businesses, farms, and manufacturers can afford to continue doing business in New York.
• Supporting Industrial Development Agencies and their job-creating programs.
• Providing energy tax credits to small businesses, farms, and manufacturers to help offset New York’s costly utility rates and fees.
• Protecting the agricultural industry from costly labor mandates that will hurt small farms and the small businesses they work with and support.

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Supporting Farmers - top

• My family has a long tradition of farming in Western New York, and as former Farm Bureau President and a member of the Assembly Agriculture Committee, I know how important the farming industry is to our state.  Farming contributes nearly $5 billion a year to the state economy, while providing well over a million jobs.  However, New York has lost over 3000 farms since 2000, most of which were dairy farms and with never-ending increases in costs, taxes, and regulations, the future of farming could be in jeopardy.
  
  
• The agriculture industry is the backbone of the Upstate economy; without it, the jobs and small businesses it supports would be lost.  That is why I support legislation that would protect New York’s farming industry by:
  
  
• Expanding property tax credits for farms.
• Establishing state programs that provide financial assistance to farmers due to natural disasters.
• Creating a dairy farm assistance program that will help alleviate the gap between low milk prices and high operating costs.
• Helping farmers upgrade farm technology to create more efficient and productive farms in New York
• Beginning an agricultural scholarship and loan forgiveness program for full-time farmers with incentives for young people entering the farming profession.
• BLOCKING NYC’s “FARM DEATH BILL”, which would place unaffordable labor mandates on farms.

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Protecting Our Sportsmen - top

• Western New York’s heritage and tradition is closely associated with hunting, fishing, and other outdoor sporting activities, and with over a million resident sportsmen and women contributing more than $6 billion to the state’s economy annually, its clear why Albany needs to support this industry.  However, despite this, every year the Assembly Majority introduces anti-Second Amendment legislation aimed at placing tougher restrictions on firearm ownership. While this legislation claims to prevent the criminal use of firearms, it actually hurts legal firearm owners, hunters, sportsmen, and business owners.  Additionally, over the last two years the legislature and governor have tried to raid dedicated outdoor sporting funds, such as the snowmobile fund, to pay for its overspending. 
  
  
• New York sportsmen already face some of the toughest laws and regulations in the country.  Additional anti-sportsmen legislation will hurt our region’s cultural heritage, as well as the struggling Upstate economy.
  
  
• In Albany, I will continue to make it my priority to protect and support our sportsmen with legislation that will:
  
  
• Provide property tax exemptions for land that supports hunting and other types of outdoor sporting.
• Create a junior big game hunting license for young adults.
• Establish a $100,000 real property tax exemption to qualifying conservation groups, and rod and gun clubs.
• Eliminate the failed CoBIS ammunition tracking program, which has cost taxpayers $36 million and never solved a crime.
• Expand the Real Property Tax exemptions for otherwise qualified individuals who create forest land habitats that will support game species.
• Protect dedicated sportsmen funds from being raided by the state.

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Saluting Our Veterans - top

• As a veteran and the ranking member of the Assembly Veterans’ Affairs Committee, I have made it one of my top priorities to support New York State’s veterans.  Our servicemen and women have sacrificed much to preserve our nation’s liberties and freedoms.  In return, it is important that our state government honor their service by supporting them with health or mental health care, and surviving dependents benefits.
  
  
• This year, in Albany, I sponsored legislation that:
  
  
• Creates a tax credit for employers who hire New York National Guard personnel.
• Provides an exemption for Disabled New York State Veterans from payment of New York Thruway tolls.
• Issues special license plates for gold star families who lost a son or daughter while in service to our country.
• Provides scholarships to surviving family members of NYS military personnel who died in the line of duty.
• Allows military personnel to exempt income from the state income tax during active service.