O’Mara: State government priorities cannot be focused on out-of-control spending

Albany, N.Y., January 10-—State Senator Tom O’Mara (R,C-Big Flats) today responded to Governor Kathy Hochul’s State of the State message to the Legislature by once again warning that the state’s Democrat leaders are eyeing long-term commitments for higher state spending that sooner or later will require tax increases, more state borrowing, and an unsustainable debt burden for taxpayers.

O’Mara cautioned that the vision Hochul and legislative leaders are laying out for the future of New York could spell even harder times ahead for state and local taxpayers, small businesses and manufacturers, and already hard-pressed upstate communities, economies, and workers.

O’Mara said, “Governor Hochul gave a very low-key, safe speech. She highlighted the affordability crisis we have in New York State, but every agenda item she spoke of will only make New York a more expensive place to live and do business. She appears intent on spending every last taxpayer dime, and then some. It’s going to demand more and more revenue, including higher taxes and increased borrowing. New York State remains one of America’s highest-taxed, least affordable, most debt-ridden and overregulated states, and we’re leading the nation in population loss to top it off. It’s mind-boggling how Governor Hochul and top legislative Democrats can keep boasting about higher and higher state government spending. One-party control of New York government has already produced billions of dollars of short- and long-term spending requiring billions of dollars in new taxes, fees, and borrowing for future generations of state and local taxpayers. Their relentless pursuit of a hard-left, extreme-liberal political agenda remains the priority over a long-term, sustainable future for upstate, middle-class communities, families, employers, workers, and taxpayers.”

O’Mara added that he looks forward to joining his Senate Republican colleagues throughout the new legislative session to put forth strategies to ensure that upstate regions don't get left behind. At the Capitol yesterday, O’Mara and other members of the Senate GOP unveiled a “Rescue New York” legislative agenda that proposes a range of policies focusing on public safety and security, economic growth and job creation, tax relief and regulatory reform, and affordability initiatives to try to reverse New York’s nation-leading population loss.

O’Mara said that he would also work with his legislative colleagues across the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes regions to keep attention focused on unfunded state mandates, job-killing state regulations, and a state and local tax burden that hurts family budgets and keeps New York’s business climate one of the worst in the country.

The next key benchmark arrives later this month when Hochul begins rolling out her 2023-2024 state budget proposal.

O’Mara was recently reappointed to serve as the Ranking Republican member of the Senate Finance Committee which oversees the Legislature’s annual budget adoption process.