County Executives Across New York Join Governor in Calling for Middle Class Tax Relief in This Year’s Budget

County Executives across New York today endorsed Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s Tax Fairness for the Middle Class Campaign to make the property tax cap permanent and cut middle class taxes.

In 2011, Governor Cuomo vowed to bring property taxes under control once and for all. After years of trying to cap property taxes, New York passed the first ever 2% property tax cap. Since the implementation of the tax cap in 2012, local property tax growth has averaged 1.9%, compared to 5.3% average growth from 2000 to 2010, and the tax cap has produced approximately $24.4 billion statewide. The property tax cap changed long-term trends and the trajectory of the state.

“The federal tax law is an economic injustice against New Yorkers, and while step one is to fight for national change to repeal the law, step two is to alleviate the economic damage to New Yorkers at the state level by making the property tax cap permanent,” Governor Cuomo said. “When people say New York is a high tax state, they are talking about property taxes. A permanent tax cap will save New Yorkers tens of thousands of dollars over the next ten years and provide stability in this economic environment. I will not sign a budget without the permanent tax cap, and I thank these leaders for standing with me to support middle class tax relief.”

Albany County Executive Daniel P. McCoy said, “Since Governor Cuomo introduced the property tax cap, it has saved taxpayers across the state thousands of dollars. In Albany County, we have held the line on tax increases and cut property taxes last year. Making the tax cap permanent is critical to continuing the positive momentum in Albany County and across the state and I fully support Governor Cuomo in his efforts to ensure this is done as soon as possible.” 

Rockland County Executive Ed Day said, “The introduction of the property tax cap was a long-awaited and much needed strategy for government to self-induce fiscal discipline. I whole-heartedly endorse the continuation of the cap. The people of the State of New York and of Rockland County deserve no less than stringent expenditures by government.”

Westchester County Executive George Latimer said, “I applauded the Governor for recognizing that property tax payers have shouldered a crippling burden for too long. Here in Westchester County residents pay some of the highest property taxes in the nation. The 2% property tax cap is fair and sensible- especially in light of the SALT tax cap. We have heard it for years that property tax payers need relief, and this is a tremendous help for them. Anything more we can do to help property taxpayers should be done.”

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo launched a Tax Fairness for the Middle Class Campaign to make the property tax cap permanent. To illustrate the benefits of a permanent property tax cap, Governor Cuomo unveiled a digital tax calculator to showcase estimates of how much taxpayers have saved under the property tax cap and will continue to save over the next 10 years with a permanent property tax cap.

As part of the campaign, the Governor remains committed to the phase-in of his historic middle class tax cuts. Under these reforms, middle class tax rates will continue to drop to 5.5 percent and 6 percent, depending on income, when the cuts are fully phased in – an up to 20 percent cut in income tax rates for the middle class – and produce a projected $4.2 billion in annual savings for six million filers by 2025. As the new rates phase in, they will be the State’s lowest middle-class tax rates in more than 70 years.