Cuomo Backs Panel's Call for Two-Year N.Y. Property Tax Freeze

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is backing a proposal to freeze property-tax increases at 2 percent for two years and calling for a tax credit targeted at New York City renters.

The credits, along with changes to the corporate and estate taxes, will cost $2.2 billion by fiscal 2017, when the state will have a surplus by that amount, Cuomo said today at a press briefing in Albany. He also called for cutting the corporate tax rate to 6.5 percent from 7.1 percent, the lowest since 1968.

The recommendations were made last month by a commisison appointed by Cuomo, a 56-year-old Democrat.