“The Governor’s 2018 State of the State address was a scattered attempt to cater to various interest groups rather than fixing what is on everyone’s mind: the economy. He should spend less time attacking the recent federal tax cuts and more time working to improve the Upstate economy by cutting taxes.

“This morning we learned that even more people are leaving New York, yet these priorities basically ignore the flight and its root causes. Our state desperately needs policies that encourage real economic growth so we can encourage business opportunities, create jobs, have good schools, improve our infrastructure, and ensure neighborhood safety.

“He doubles down on these so-called economic development policies but in my opinion, in order to encourage long-term economic growth and investment, we need to cut taxes. I look forward to learning more details on the tax restructuring he mentioned today but I fear this is a backdoor way to raise revenue and New York does not have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem.”