I've ruled as a tax conservative

With the Democratic primary behind him, Governor Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday during a speech to the company's executives he was governing as a tax conservative.

Cuomo, who is running for a third term, said his policy of imposing a cap on state spending and a 2% property tax limit on local governments and school districts had paid off.

"We have spending down and functionality up," Cuomo told the New York State Business Council in a speech at Bolton Landing in Lake George.

"Governors Pataki, Spitzer and Paterson all tried and failed on the property tax ceiling – we did it."

He stated that the rate of growth of state spending during his eight years in office was less than 2%, less than all his predecessors, including Nelson Rockefeller in the 1970s.

Cuomo's Republican challenger, Marc Molinaro, who spoke to the group on Monday, promised to find a way to cut property taxes by up to 30 percent if he became governor.

But Cuomo accused Molinaro's plan of being "a dummy" because his opponent wants to transfer billions of dollars in Medicaid costs from the region to the state, triggering massive tax hikes or cuts in government spending. expenses.

Tax watch dog E.J. McMahon, of the Empire State Center for Public Policy, said the 2% property tax cap of Cuomo had been a "real" feat.

He questioned Cuomo's claim to keep spending at less than 2 percent without "fiscal gimmicks", but acknowledged that it was "relatively low by historical standards".

During his first democratic fight with Cynthia Nixon, Cuomo spoke of his liberal policies that many business leaders have opposed, including a minimum wage increase and a law on paid family leave.

He made no mention of these proposals on Tuesday.

New York is one of the highest combined state and local tax rates in the country.

But Cuomo said, "Every person in this state has a lower tax rate the day I was elected."

Cuomo cut corporate taxes and lowered tax rates slightly, but largely maintained the high rates imposed on the rich during the 2008-2009 recession before he took office.

The governor has doubled his economic development program into a scandal, leading to convictions for corruption against his former collaborator and confidant, Joe Percoco, and chief economic advisor, Alain Kalayeros, as well as several campaign executives and donors.

Instead, Cuomo said his administration has globally invested $ 44 billion in upstate New York, strengthening Buffalo and other areas. "We focused on upstate New York as a laser … I'm proud of that. I want it in my praise, "he said.

He said economic growth has been strong across the state, but McMahon said that if the northern economy were treated as a separate state, it would be one of the least developed countries in the world. less favored.

When asked why people were leaving in the north, Mr. Cuomo suggested that it was because of the colder weather and not the economic situation.

Cuomo touted infrastructure projects, including the new Mario Cuomo / Tappan Zee bridge and airport reconstruction, to better prepare the state for future growth.

He has also established his Excelsior Scholarship Program, which helps middle-income students attend public colleges.

While the governor said that all economic indicators "point the right direction," he warned that the federal law approved by President Trump and Congress limiting domestic and local tax deductions to $ 10,000 hampers progress.

He urged corporate executives to lobby Congress and the President to restore full inferences.

The Molinaro campaign reacted easily to Cuomo's call for his property tax reduction plan to be a "sham" and a "shell game" to recommend to the state to assume the Local share of Medicaid costs.

Cuomo's father, former governor Mario Cuomo, remarked that Molinaro's campaign was one of the first "supporters" of such a takeover.