A probe by the New York Daily News has found that New York Republican gubernatorial nominee Carl Paladino has received $3 million in tax breaks as part of a program to help boost the economy in Buffalo, but has only created a total of 25 jobs. Paladino, a New York tea party favorite, often touts anti-government themes in his campaign.
The government program he benefits from, called Empire Zones, is a statewide effort “to stimulate economic growth through a variety of tax incentives designed to attract new businesses to New York and to enable existing businesses to expand and create more jobs,” according to the site.
Paladino, a Buffalo-based real estate developer, notably made his investments for his own existing properties without creating any new projects — in one case putting $19 million into renovations for his buildings.
The Daily News reports:
To justify tax breaks in one instance, he sold a dozen vacant lots he owned to himself and claimed hundreds of thousands of dollars in “real property investments.” Seven years later, these “investments” remain what they were – vacant lots.
Paladino campaign spokesman told the Daily News that Paladino has helped the economy by bringing on new tenants:
Ellicott Development spends significant capital buying, building and renovating space to lease to current or prospective tenant businesses in the City of Buffalo and its environs. We lure and attract new tenant businesses into Buffalo; these businesses create or at a minimum maintain jobs.
Ellicott tenants get tax breaks in the form of a lower rent. By lowering operating costs, the landlord is able to pass a lower rent on to the tenancy. In many of New York’s upstate inner cities, nobody would develop without Empire Zones. The program helps make rents affordable for projects otherwise unaffordable due to high build-out and project costs.
The TPM Poll Average puts Democrat Andrew Cuomo ahead of Paladino 52.8%-38.4%.
