Gov catches Tax Day break from plan he rips

Guess he can’t be that salty.

Gov. Cuomo paid slightly less in taxes last year thanks to the federal tax overhaul he routinely blasts as bad for New York.

The governor earned a total of $211,289 and paid $39,138 in federal taxes, an effective tax rate of 18.5% in 2018, according to a copy of his federal return provided to reporters on Monday. In 2017, the governor paid $41,765 on $212,776 in income for an effective rate of 19.6%.

Cuomo has been one of the most vocal critics of the GOP tax overhaul that capped deductions for state and local taxes — known as SALT — at $10,000.

Cuomo’s crusade against the cap led him to blame the new rule for a projected $2.3 billion deficit for the state and has included multiple meetings with President Trump and White House officials.

The governor, who paid $12,894 in state and local taxes, was unable to write off nearly $3,000 of that money on his federal return.

However, Cuomo, like many others in his income bracket, was previously required to use the alternative-minimum tax, meaning he wouldn’t have written off the SALT levies, anyway. With the alternative minimum tax being scaled back, the governor actually came out ahead.

E.J. McMahon, head of the fiscally conservative Empire Center think tank, said a lot of New Yorkers, just like Cuomo will see a decrease in taxes this year due to the changes.

“He’s not alone. There are a lot of people in the same situation,” McMahon said. “It’s not universal, but on the whole most people who are not income millionaires are not paying higher taxes.”