Andrew Cuomo said yesterday that property taxes are taking a toll on homeowners all over New York, and offered his plan for capping them.
“Property taxes are driving New Yorkers out of their homes,” he said in Rockland County.
Rockland residents pay, on average, more than $8,500 a year in property taxes, meaning they face the fifth-highest property taxes in the country and the third-highest in the state, according to figures compiled by Cuomo’s campaign.
DISPATCHES FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL
Property taxes in Westchester average more than $9,000 — the highest in the country.
The national median property tax is $1,917.
Cuomo’s “Cap NY Property Taxes” proposal would set a hard cap at 2 percent or the rate of inflation — whichever is lower — on how much taxes could rise in a year.
The plan also would consolidate some 10,500 local governments that duplicate services and devour tax money.
Democrat Cuomo also promised to enact as governor a state spending cap and review all current state mandates that require local governments to spend public money.
Earlier in the week, Republican Carl Paladino offered a proposal of his own for trimming property taxes by cutting $20 billion from the state’s Medicaid program and consolidating administrative duties of school districts.