ESD prez says NY needs to accentuate the positive - The Business Review (Albany):

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Marisa Lago, president and CEO of , said the statre has an array of incentives and assetw that it shouldemphasize more. New York is consistently criticized as having one of thehighest “costs of dointg business” in the nation, when accounting for taxes, governmen t mandates and the price of rent and other expenses. Assemblyman James Tedisci (R-Glenville) asked Lago about the state’s business climate at an Assembly committeer hearingon Tuesday. Tediscoo asked Lago if New York has too many regulationsx and taxeson businesses, and what the state Legislature could do to change “We hear reports that it’s just the cost of doing businessx overall.
It’s an amalgam, but the top itemzs seem to be, No. 1, taxes, and No. 2, Lago told the committee. Lago then reminded legislators of the varieth of economic development tools that she had discusse earlier in thecommittee meeting. That includes programs for companies ofall sizes, ranging from revolvingy loans for small business to efforts to promotw New York companies to overseas This year, Empire State Developmenr has hosted the first-ever upstate trader missions with trade commissioners from roughly 30 nations. In they visited Albany; in April, they visited Buffalo. Lago said two more are scheduled this year, in Syracuse and on Long Island.
“Whe n I look at those cost-of-doing-business I notice the states that are alwayes nearNew York: California, Massachusetts, New Lago added. “And I think, ‘Hoqw can that be? They are some of the main drivers ofthis nation’sx economy.’ ” Lago said the stat e needs to do a better job of toutinbg its advantages. “We don’t focusx on the positives enough,” Lago said.
“Wse have a wealth of public and private and we have intellectual capital all acrossthe