Issue Position: A Fair Economy For All
Issue Position
Sean knows that Western New York's economy should work for everyone, and no one should be left behind. Sean has worked to fight income inequality, pushing for lower middle class tax rates and higher taxes for millionaires and billionaires.
Sean's Economic Fairness Agenda
Boost the Minimum Wage
Sean has also been a leader in the fight for a higher minimum wage, and the Fight for $15 movement. No one who works 40 hours a week should be living in poverty, or having to rely on government assistance. Sean not only led the Fight, but he got it done, and New York was the first state in the nation to pass a $15 minimum wage into law.
Addressing Poverty In Our Communities
Tackling the issue of poverty is also one of Sean's highest priorities. Buffalo has a poverty rate of over 30%. That is double the county, state, and national averages. To tackle this epidemic of poverty, Sean has proposed the creation of the HIRE Buffalo program to directly link the new jobs at Solar City and other companies with people living in Buffalo's highest poverty zip codes. If we don't address concentrated and extreme poverty, our entire society cannot get ahead and succeed.
Reforming Our IDA System
Sean has been very active in talking about the need to reform our Industrial Development Agency system. Sean is tired of seeing our tax dollars used to subsidize donut shops, car dealerships, and liquor stores. These types of projects do not bring good paying jobs to our community. Instead, our IDAs should be focusing on their original intent, bringing good paying industrial jobs to Western New York. They should be bringing the type of jobs to the area that you can raise a family on. Sean has introduced legislation in the State Assembly to reform the IDAs, and bring about transparency and accountability. Sean fought for new rules to provide greater state oversight of IDAs, and a new mandate that creates clawbacks to recapture subsidies if businesses do not live up to job creation promises.
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