Property owners in Fulton pay the highest tax rates in Central New York and the among New York cities (excluding New York City), according to a new comparative database of local taxes released today by the Empire Center.

The Empire Center ranked the “Top 20” and “Bottom 20” tax rates for 2010 in every region of the state, along with a ranking of tax rates in cities.

The tax rates listed are all inclusive, meaning they include city (or town), county and school district.

With New Yorkers preparing to vote on school budget propositions next Tuesday, the center, which is a project of the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, also has developed an Internet-based tool allowing taxpayers to compute and compare total school district, municipal and county tax burdens across the state.

The rankings are based on data from the state comptroller’s office and exclude New York City and Nassau County.

According to the center’s report, Fulton’s average effective tax rate came to $51.14 per $1,000 of property value, compared to a Central New York regional median of $32.82 and a statewide median of $27.43.

The lowest effective property tax rate in Central New York was in Skaneateles. The rate averaged $21.75 per $1,000.

Tim Hoefer, director of the Empire Center, said today’s report and the new property tax search tool linked on the “Benchmarking NY” tab at the Center’s SeeThroughNY.net website present property tax burdens in much finer detail than the Tax Foundation’s widely publicized national ranking of tax burdens at the county level, which are based on U.S. Census surveys….

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