An audacious proposal by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo – if adopted by the Legislature – could do a great deal to relieve the crippling property-tax burdens of many New Yorkers.

Cuomo’s plan would spur consolidation of the 10,521 local governments in the state. These include cities, towns, villages and so-called “special districts” – entities meant to help deliver services to specific areas of a given municipality.

And virtually all of them can impose taxes and/or assess fees.

The state had just 2,000 special districts in 1940; today, it’s more than 6,000.

The result?

New Yorkers are being buried by county, town, village and school-district property taxes – and taxes for special districts.

The village and special-district governments are often accountable to no one – and, indeed, many have long since outlived any useful purpose they ever had.

But, as it stands, getting rid of them – or even consolidating them – is virtually impossible. They’re small individually, yet collectively they represent an army of petty bureaucrats and a statewide filigree of hoary parochial interests.

In fact, some special districts only permit property owners – as opposed to voters – to sign petitions for a consolidation/dissolution referendum.

The Cuomo plan would:

* Create one law for all local governments, eradicating duplications.

* Create uniform consolidation and dissolution procedures.

* Eliminate the property-ownership qualification in order to sign a petition.

* Empower counties to transfer and abolish local government entities subject to mandatory referendum requirements.

Cuomo estimates that this proposal could mean as much as a 22 percent savings on individual property tax bills.

The proposal is spot on, and the Legislature would do well to embrace it straight away.