NY tax break in the works for couples earning $300G or less

New York lawmakers are looking to lower taxes on households earning $300,000 or less annually, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said Wednesday amid state budget negotiations.

The governor said he and legislative leaders have agreed to a “framework” of a tax cut that likely will be included in a roughly $155 billion state budget. The tax plan, as floated, would create several new tax brackets at the lower- and middle-end of the pay scale. Those couples earning the maximum eligible for the break, $300,000, could see their tax rate lowered from 6.57 percent to 6 percent.

That would closely follow a tax-cut proposal initially advanced by Senate Republicans earlier this year.

The Democrat-led Assembly too had advocated a middle-class tax cut — but coupled it with a proposed hike for those earning $1 million or more annually. That part of the proposal seems to have gone by the wayside.

Lawmakers are trying to adopt a budget by midnight Thursday, the beginning of New York’s fiscal year.

A proposed minimum wage hike and a Medicaid cost shift to New York City remain among the major roadblocks.

Lawmakers are weighing whether to back a compromise that would hike the minimum wage — currently $9 per hour — to $15 per hour in New York City in 2018 and on Long Island in 2021, while raising the wage upstate to $12.50 and indexing it so it eventually reaches $15 per hour.