Governor Andrew Cuomo came to Rochester Friday to support making New York’s 2% property tax cap permanent…and a more than one point drop in the state income tax rate for the middle class (up to $300,000 annual income).
Cuomo pushed through legislation for a temporary tax cap in his first term. It allows local governments to raise their property taxes no more than two percent in a given year. Since then, the average annual increase statewide has gone from more than five percent to less than two percent a year.
Cuomo says by capping the federal tax deduction for state and local taxes, the federal government deliberately hurt Democratic states. He says this makes it all the more important to hold the line on property taxes and said he’ll propose making the tax cap permanent in the upcoming state budget. Cuomo says he’ll also propose cutting the middle class income tax rate from more than 6 to 5.5 percent.