Thompson: Ease Business Burdens

Striking a mayoral tone in a speech about the competitive future of New York this morning, Comptroller William Thompson Jr. proposed lowering taxes on small businesses, easing provisions in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and tackling the travel delays that plague the city's airports.

Mr. Thompson, who is expected to run for mayor in 2009, cautioned that although Wall Street bonuses reached a record $33.6 billion last year, there are signs that the city's position as the world's financial center is becoming less secure.

The city's record budget surpluses have been fueled by Wall Street profits, he said today during a speech at an Association for a Better New York breakfast. He added that the whenever a job is created on Wall Street another 1.3 jobs are created elsewhere in the city.

"We must do everything we can to maintain the health of this critical industry and the people who work there," he said.

Mr. Thompson said after his speech that he although he supports much of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which placed new financial reporting requirements on businesses, he'd like some of the standards loosened for small businesses.

"We'd like to create some more support for small companies these days," he said. "They are the ones who are complaining about the inordinate costs of reporting right now."

Mr. Thompson's office also issued a report today on vocational high schools in the city, which he said are more successful overall than other high schools at both keeping kids in school and graduating them. He said vocational schools need modern equipment and support.

When asked if he believes the Bloomberg administration is failing vocational schools, Mr. Thompson said that over the last few years "there's been a decline in support there."
He later added that time is needed to see if the city's reading and math scores are showing sustained growth.

"I think right now it's kind of undecided as to whether there's been major improvement," he said.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who also is expected to run for mayor, spoke about government accountability and transparency during a speech before the association earlier this month.