Are economic development incentives worth it? Or do they ultimately end up costing taxpayers in New York state? 

Michael Kink, executive director for Strong Economy for All, joins JoDee Kenney to discuss.

"Overall, I think New York would be in better shape if we put the $10 billion-plus a year that we spend on economic development into basic public goods and public services that benefit everyone, all businesses, big and small, regular families, regular communities, investing in education, higher education, infrastructure, clean water, in parks, and the kinds of things that make for vibrant, beautiful communities," Kink said.

He says the specific reforms on how to change the way the state does business should be targeted to tax subsidies that are clearly wasteful and clearly hurting regular people.

"There is no question that regular people working people are overtaxed," Kink said. "We take the perspective that rich people [and] the richest corporations, are undertaxed. That the tax system doesn't only result in high taxes, but it results in unfair taxes. The magnitude of the money is there to reduce taxes for working people, for homeowners, for seniors, that's something we could do if we had $10 billion." 

You can watch the full interview with Kink in the video above. And be sure to tune in for a look inside the biggest issues impacting upstate New York, on In Focus — every Sunday on Spectrum News 1.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been corrected to reflect that Kink said "undertaxed."