Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
by Sean Dobbin – Staff writer

Howie Hawkins, the Green Party's nominee for governor, said that Andrew Cuomo and Robert Duffy were planning to unfairly balance the budget "on the backs of the public employees, schoolchildren, and property tax payers of the state."

Hawkins, speaking at a press conference outside City Hall in Rochester this morning, said that he was concerned that the Democratic candidates for governor and lieutenant governor would lean on the state's public employees — who make an average of $40,000 a year, less than the average salary in the United States, he said — and that there were other ways to balance the budget.

"If we cut public spending in a time when consumers can't spend and business won't invest, the economy will go down further, we'll have lower tax revenues, and we'll have to cut again next year to balance the budget," said Hawkins. "The alternative is to have a more progressive tax structure where the rich pay their fair share."

Hawkins said that eliminating the $16 billion rebate of the state's stock transfer tax to Wall Street stock traders and returning to a progressive income tax structure would create a fund to help schools and reduce tuition at state colleges.

He also said he was opposed to an across-the-board property tax cap, listing Wall Street reform and a single payer health care system as better ways to balance the budget.