The business community is not concerning itself with the multiple investigations trailing Governor Andrew Cuomo. 

When asked whether the business community would distance itself from the governor if he was found guilty of any of the allegations he is currently accused of, Kathryn Wylde, the president and CEO of the Partnership for New York City, said, “no”. 

“The governor is the governor,” she stated. “The business community is not playing politics. That’s not our job.”

When it was pointed out that the business community stopped supporting President Trump after various scandals and policy decisions, Wylde agreed that New York businesses had withdrawn support from the former president, but said that the situation was different.

“New York was so punished. We were named a sanctuary city, had the SALT that was directly attacking Blue States. That was an entirely different situation where it was war on the City.  (Business) wasn’t so much distancing themselves from Trump, but rather rejecting a set of policies that hadn’t worked,” she explained.

Wylde and other business leaders wrote a letter to the governor and lawmakers on Monday urging them to hold the line on taxes because of jobs losses and the windfall that New York will receive from the federal government.

“Employers feel that our focus in the 2021-22 budget should be on jobs and not taxes,” Wylde explained.

It’s an argument runs counter to the intentions of both one-house budgets which include a variety of tax increases on the wealthiest New Yorkers. 

In response, Wylde said, “We need to figure out long-term solutions on both sides, spending and revenues.”

Wylde claims the legislature has an unrealistic projection of the revenues that can be realized from high earners.

“90% of Manhattan’s office workers, which includes most of the financial services industry, technology and other sectors are working remotely, many of them from out of state,” she said. “Whether or not they come back makes a big difference.”

In the letter sent by business leaders to state officials, it states, “many members of our workforce have resettled their families in other locations, generally with far lower taxes than New York”.

When asked where that data came from, Wylde asked “what other research would indicate anything else?”

When it was pointed out that after a 10-year study, Cornell University published research that found high income earners do not move because of taxes, Wylde argued that “all the studies that look at pre-2018 are irrelevant.”

Beginning in 2018, New Yorkers were no longer allowed to deduct all of their state and local taxes.

“Basically, (before 2018) there was no serious tax burden at the state and local level because anybody who paid high taxes here took it off their federal taxes,” Wylde said.