FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ALBANY, NY (Jan. 21, 2025) – The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the nation’s leading small business advocacy association with more than 11,000 members in the Empire State, issued the following statement by NFIB New York State Director Ashley Ranslow in response to Governor Kathy Hochul’s presentation this afternoon of her Executive Budget proposal:

“NFIB supports the Governor’s proposals to stop the absurd manual worker weekly pay lawsuits wreaking havoc on small businesses, cutting personal income tax rates for the middle class, and paying the interest on the state’s Unemployment Insurance debt, but more needs to be done to provide relief for Main Street. The outstanding Unemployment Insurance debt is dragging down the state’s economy and costing small businesses thousands of extra dollars – this issue cannot continue to go unaddressed and must be solved sooner than later. NFIB is also deeply concerned about how the MTA’s budget hole will be filled. New York cannot and should not consider tax increases or new taxes as an option to raise revenue for the MTA – in no way will that make the Empire State more affordable.”

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For more than 80 years, NFIB has been the voice of small business, advocating on behalf of America’s small and independent business owners, both in Washington, D.C., and in all 50 state capitals. NFIB is nonprofit, nonpartisan, and member driven. Since our founding in 1943, NFIB has been exclusively dedicated to small and independent businesses and remains so today. For more information, please visit env-nfibcom-uat.kinsta.cloud.