In 2011, New York enacted a 2 percent cap on annual local property tax levies. A recent analysis by the Empire Center revealed that school property taxes have grown at an average annual rate of 2.2 percent per year in the four years since the cap was created, down from 6 percent per year in the thirty years prior. The authors also found that, when new construction was removed, school tax levies grew slower than inflation in every region of the state outside New York City, which was not affected by the cap.

Here are some recent publications from the Empire Center related to the tax cap and efforts by tax cap advocates to make it permanent:

• Make New York’s property-tax cap permanent — it’s working (op-ed, New York Post, June 3)
• Large majority wants to keep the cap (NY Torch, May 26)
• School Tax Growth Sinks Under Cap (Research & Data Bulletin, May 19)
• Senate moves to erase Silver Sunset (NY Torch, May 19)
• Tax cap 2, NYSUT 0 (NY Torch, March 24)
• Senate steps up on cap (NY Torch, March 12)
• Lock in tax cap, then address issues that lead to high taxes (op-ed, Daily Gazette, March 1)
• Cuomo: make tax cap permanent (NY Torch, January 21)