Supporters of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s proposal to ease New York’s estate tax banded together Monday to argue that the tax hurts farmers, small business operators and downstate middle class families, not just Wall Street millionaires.

Opponents, however, said Monday’s plea was just a smoke screen to mask a benefit for the richest New Yorkers.

The National Federation of Independent Business and the state Farm Bureau joined the fiscally conservative think tank Empire Center for Public Policy on Monday. They stressed farmers, many small business owners and homeowners on Long Island and in New York City who consider themselves middle class are subject to the big tax bite when passing on their estates to their children.

They said the estate tax is forcing New Yorkers to sell farms and other businesses to pay the estate tax. In turn, they said farmland has been sold into more lucrative commercial subdivisions and businesses have been shuttered, although no study has been done to quantify the breadth of the concern.

“The estate tax doesn’t just hit the super rich,” said E.J. McMahon of the Empire Center for Public Policy.

Cuomo proposes to exclude estates larger than $1 million in phases up to the federal level. The federal estate tax hits estates valued at $5.34 million and above — or up to twice as much for married couples. That could eliminate 90 percent of New Yorkers now subject to the state estate tax.

The cost of Cuomo’s proposal will, when fully phased in, eliminated $750 million in revenue from the state budget where education advocates already say too little funding is going to schools and other needs.

“That’s a lot of prekindergarten, that is a lot of tuition assistance for low-income kids for college,” said Michael Kink of the Strong Economy for All coalition of liberal and social service groups.

He called the support for easing the estate tax “a tremendously cynical attempt to make upstate farmers the face of an estate tax cut that will overwhelmingly benefit Park Avenue millionaires.”

The Empire Center said New York is one of just 14 states with an estate tax. That makes California, Florida, Texas and other states without estate taxes more attractive to New Yorkers with enough resources to move in order to avoid New York’s “death tax,” McMahon said.

In New York, the estate tax doesn’t apply to the transfer of property and assets after death to a spouse. But transfer of estates worth over $1 million to the estate owner’s children adds up fast. For example, children who inherit a Long Island home and savings totaling $1.08 million would pay $32,800 in estate tax. That’s equal to a 41-percent tax on the value of the estate over $1 million, McMahon said.

McMahon said that when retirees who saved for retirement flee New York and its “death tax,” the state also loses their daily commerce and spending. He argues easing the estate tax would help New York’s economy.

“New York’s estate tax doesn’t only apply to the vilified top ‘1 percent,’ ” McMahon said. “It hits individuals and families who have worked hard and saved their money. The tax stymies economic growth and puts New York on an uneven playing field.”

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