New York’s Cuomo Calls for Making 2% Property-Tax Cap Permanent

(Bloomberg) -- New York Governor Andrew Cuomo called on the state legislature to approve a permanent 2 percent cap on local property taxes, a policy that’s been in effect for six years and is up for renewal.

“When they say New York is a high-tax state they’re talking about the property tax, not the income tax,” Cuomo said during a news conference in Albany. “We did it six years. The sky is not falling. You can exercise fiscal discipline and restraint and survive.”

His comments came as the legislature faces an April 1 deadline to approve a budget for fiscal 2020 . His spending plan proposes reorganizing the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, including congestion pricing and Internet sales taxes to raise transit revenue. A tax on yet-to-be legalized cannabis may not be ready by the deadline, Cuomo said. The governor also said he would favor a pied-a-terre tax -- a levy on non-resident owners of luxury apartments -- to raise more revenue.

Homeowners in 52 of the state’s 62 counties pay average property taxes above the $10,000 limit they are allowed to deduct off their federal income taxes under the law enacted by President Donald Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress in 2017, Cuomo said. That cap could pressure homeowners to leave New York for states with lower property taxes, Cuomo said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Henry Goldman in New York at hgoldman@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Flynn McRoberts at fmcroberts1@bloomberg.net, Stacie Sherman

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.