With just over a month until Election Day, Gov. Kathy Hochul and Republican challenger Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman are making competing cases for why they are best suited to provide tax relief in a state where the cost of living remains the central campaign issue.

Blakeman made multiple stops in Central New York on Tuesday, touting a proposal for what he calls the single largest income tax cut in New York history. Hochul, meanwhile, has emphasized her record of delivering relief alongside the state Legislature.

“We need real tax relief,” Blakeman said.

Blakeman is promising to restructure state spending to fund a large income tax cut if elected, insisting the state overspends and some money earmarked for assisting immigrants and refugees should be rerouted.

“If you make $100,000 and you’re a joint filer, you pay no tax — that saves you $4,000 a year. If you’re a single filer — $50,000,” he said of the proposal. “We’ve got to make it more affordable in this state,” he added.

Hochul’s campaign pushed back in a statement, pointing to Blakeman’s record on property taxes and raising a 30-year-old issue that has put Blakeman on the defensive after making a point of campaigning on never raising taxes as county executive.

“While Governor Hochul fights tooth and nail for New Yorkers, cutting middle-class taxes to their lowest rate in 70 years, Bruce Blakeman did the opposite: he jacked up property taxes twice. New York families can’t afford a record like his, and are ready to reject his ‘MAGA all the way’ agenda in November.”

Blakeman has acknowledged two votes to raise property taxes in the late 1990s and called them a mistake.

Friday, Hochul made her pitch to business leaders at the Business Council of New York State’s annual conference in Warren County, emphasizing her tax record.

There, Hochul challenged New York’s reputation as a state unfriendly to business interests, and worked to make the case that things have changed since what she described as the “tax and spend” 1980’s

“You will note — there has not been a tax increase on income tax or corporate taxes since I’ve been governor,” she said.

Hochul faced months of pressure from progressives, including New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, to increase income taxes on the wealthy as part of this year’s state budget negotiations. Rep. Elise Stefanik’s short-lived campaign for governor last year was built on her insistence that Hochul would cave to Mamdani and raise taxes and Blakeman has continued to make taxes and progressive fiscal policies a central issue of the campaign.

Hochul ultimately only agreed to a tax on luxury second homes in New York City instead.

The incumbent presented business leaders with a list of initiatives undertaken alongside the Legislature that she argues amount to significant tax relief.

“Whether they’re people with children under the age of 4 they get $1,000 back; our energy rebates are going out now, a billion dollars that I worked on with the Legislature; we had a middle-class tax rebate, a property tax rebate,” Hochul said.

With more progressive voices expected to join the Legislature in January, Hochul would likely face renewed pressure to raise taxes if reelected.

Meanwhile, with a campaign finance filing deadline approaching on Oct. 2, Hochul’s campaign released new fundraising figures Tuesday morning.

The campaign reported raising $8.5 million during the September filing period, including more than $2.6 million for her reelection campaign and more than $5.9 million for the New York State Democratic Party.

According to the campaign, Hochul ended the filing period with more than $18.5 million in cash on hand, while the state Democratic Party had more than $15 million.

The campaign characterized the combined total of more than $33 million as the “most ever at this point in the election cycle in party history.”

Blakeman’s fundraising figures were not yet available Tuesday.