Cuomo talks tax cap in new video

The Governor's office released a video today of Andrew Cuomo speaking directly to New Yorkers about the tax cap enacted earlier this year in Albany.

In his message, the Governor touted the work he and state legislators did to enact the cap. The video below comes a week after business and government groups called on state government to pass a series of mandate reliefs to help ease the burden of a tax cap.

A number of local governments are trying to get budgets passed that override the cap. The governor appears to be pushing voters to directly engage local governments to justify their spending and to see the cap as a tool for voters.

If you want to raise taxes, you can raise taxes. If you want to lower taxes, you can lower the taxes. If you want to live within the cap, or be below the cap, it's all your choice; but you decide, the people decide, not the politicians, that's the way it's supposed to be. ... I urge you to be there when your local government's budget is being debated. Attend the school board meetings. Ask your elected officials about their spending choices, talk to them about the cost of the bureaucracy and inefficiencies, ask them if their community should consider consolidating with other communities or sharing services to find economies of scale.