Cuomo Visits Peekskill To Call For Permanent Property Tax Cap

PEEKSKILL, NY — Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo brought his "No Tax Cap - No Deal!" campaign to the Hudson Valley Wednesday. In addition to capping property tax increases, he is also campaigning for a drop in state income tax rates for the middle class.

Cuomo spoke at the Local 21 Plumbers & Steamfitters union headquarters in Peekskill. With him were Westchester County Executive George Latimer, Marsha Gordon of the Business Council of Westchester, Peekskill Mayor Andre Rainey and other regional leaders.

He talked about putting together the state budget at a time of great national uncertainty.

"The people in this country are anxious, they're scared, they're angry. Fear often comes out as anger. And it should be," he said. "You know, 90 percent of the working men and women in this country have been going backwards ... You look at the numbers, the median income since 1980 has gone up 117 percent since 1980, so that's about 40 years. For most people that's their entire working career, right? Salaries have gone up 117 percent, but the cost of living has gone up much higher. Your salary went up 117 percent, cost of college went up 347 percent ... Cost of healthcare went up 190 percent. Cost of housing went up 160 percent. So you're feeling like you're getting left further and further behind because you are."

The biggest tax drain on New Yorkers is property taxes, he said.

Since the property tax cap was enacted six years ago to hold increases to roughly 2 percent a year, New York property taxpayers have saved $25 billion, Cuomo said. In the Mid-Hudson, property owners saved about $9 billion. The average family in Westchester County saved $9,000 in their property taxes and for Rockland, it's about $8,000 saved per property taxpayer.

Before the cap, Cuomo argued, property taxes were rising 6, 7, 8 percent every year. "People said this was crazy. What's going up 6, 7, 8 percent every year? My income's not going up 6 percent every year, my home value is not going up 6 percent every year, my portfolio isn't going up 6 percent every year."

He is calling on the state legislature to make the property tax cap permanent. If not, he said, he won't sign off on a budget for fiscal 2019-20.

Meanwhile, the state income tax rate for workers making up to $300,000 is 6.8 percent. In his budget plan, Cuomo is recommending lowering the rate to 5.5 percent for workers making up to $150,000 and to 6 percent for workers making $150,000 to $300,000.

"I want to be able to say to New Yorkers, look, I understand the overall anxiety," he said. "Your property taxes will be capped at 2 percent, and that will be permanent, and your income taxes will be coming down again. So New York is working with you to get through this situation, and New York is the place you want to be, and the place that you want to stick with. That will I think make the situation in New York much stronger."