N.Y. Pub. Auth. Law § 1012
It is hereby found and declared that the projects authorized by this title are for the aid and improvement of commerce and navigation and that such aid and improvement of commerce and navigation and the development, sale and distribution of power is primarily for the benefit of the people of the state of New York, for the improvement of their health and welfare and material prosperity, and is a public purpose, and the authority shall be regarded as performing a governmental function in undertaking such projects and in carrying out the provisions of this title, and shall be required to pay no taxes or assessments upon any of the property acquired by it for such projects or upon its activities in the operation and maintenance thereof, provided that nothing herein shall prevent the authority from entering into agreements to make payments in lieu of taxes with respect to property acquired for any project where such payments are based solely on the value of real property without regard to any improvement thereof by the authority and where no bonds to pay any costs of such project were issued prior to January first, nineteen hundred seventy-two.
The securities and other obligations issued by the authority, their transfer and the income therefrom shall, at all times, be free from taxation within this state. It is furthermore declared that the object and purpose of this title is that such projects shall be in all respects self-supporting.
N.Y. Pub. Auth. Law § 1012