Tax Cap Gains Momentum in Assembly

In a sign that Assembly Democrats may be splitting from Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver over his opposition to a tax cap, Assembly Real Property Tax Committee Chairwoman Sandy Galef, D-Ossining, said today that she now backs a school-property-tax cap.

“I’ve come to the conclusion that the cap is the only way we can get some kind of controls here,” Galef told Gannett News Service.

The decision by Galef, a former teacher, indicates that some Democrats are quietly reconsidering Silver’s stance that a tax cap would hurt schools. And in a tough election year, they may want a tax cap to fend off pressure from voters and their Republican opponents, who have been daily hammering Democratic incumbents for not passing a cap.