Property taxes in New York, fourth highest in the country, are becoming a life-altering burden for many residents even as their home values decline,
The New York Times reports. The situation has become severe enough that Gov. Andrew Cuomo is angering his public-sector allies by championing a property-tax cap.
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| Gov. Andrew Cuomo |
The governor has most New Yorkers on his side, however.
Polling shows broad support for limiting property tax increases even though school administrators and other state and local service providers say a cap will hurt them.
“I think property taxes are destroying our community,” said Vaughn Smith, a pottery maker in Ulster County, N.Y., whose annual bill has tripled to $10,065 in 17 years.
Smith is selling his house and moving to Nova Scotia, where he will pay $1,440 a year in property taxes.
Homeowners in some New York counties pay up to 8.6 percent of their income in property taxes, compared with 3 percent for homeowners nationwide, says the nonpartisan Tax Foundation research group.
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