NY COUNTER-A‘TAX’

Gov allows R.E. prepay ahead of ’18 ‘deduct’ limit

Gov. Cuomo issued an emergency order Friday allowing property owners to prepay their 2018 school and property taxes so the levies can be deducted from this year’s federal returns.

The governor, an outspoken critic of the tax bill signed into law by President Trump, said the move was the first in a series of changes Cuomo is planning to the state tax code to offset the hit New Yorkers will feel from Washington.

“Let’s see if we can redesign our tax code to get out of the federal-tax trap they set,” he told reporters in a conference call.

Asked if he was attempting an end run around the federal tax code, Cuomo declared bluntly that that is his aim.

“We’re doing it to circumvent the bill the president just signed. You’re damn right I am,” he declared.

Cuomo charged that the GOP tax overhaul was designed to hurt Democratic states while rewarding Republican ones.

“It’s take from the blue to pay red,” he said. “It’s targeted, unequal. It is designed to hurt us longterm from an economic-competitive point of view.”

Cuomo’s executive order will allow local governments and school districts to mail tax bills immediately with estimated amounts due for 2018.

Taxpayers who rush in their checks by Dec. 31 will get to take the extra payment as a deduction on their 2017 federal tax return.

“Somebody would have to have the cash on hand to pay by Dec. 31,” Cuomo conceded.

“It is a viable option. I’m encouraging the local jurisdictions to do whatever they can do to make this possible.”

The IRS doesn’t allow deductions for the prepayment of income taxes, but there’s no regulation prohibiting the propertytax maneuver, Cuomo said.

Numerous elected officials in New York have denounced the federal tax overhaul because it limits the deduction for property and all other state and local taxes to a maximum of $10,000.

There is no cap under the current tax code.

The new federal tax code also doubles the standard deduction to $12,000 for single filers and $24,000 for married couples filing jointly, so many New Yorkers who don’t itemize could come out ahead when they file in 2019.

State Budget Director Robert Mojica conceded that for some municipalities, “it would not be feasible or practical” to send out their 2018 bills with so few days remaining in 2017.