Of the thousands of items packed into Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s $150 billion budget for New York State, one in particular seemed to float to the top: a tax credit for buyers of luxury boats.

Though the word “yacht” is never used, the budget contains a tax break for anyone in the market for a “vessel” valued at more than $230,000. Specifically, buyers will not have to pay sales tax beyond that amount, regardless of the final price tag. A vessel is defined in state law as “every description of watercraft, other than a seaplane, used or capable of being used as a means of transportation on water.”

Senior New York lawmakers reached a budget deal on Sunday night, and the Legislature has begun voting on bills, which allocate money for fundamentals including schools and health care. The yacht tax credit, as it quickly became known in Albany, surfaced on Monday in a news release from the Fiscal Policy Institute, a liberal research group.

“We were simply looking for things like property tax relief for regular folks and we found the yacht exemption,” said Ronald Deutsch, the institute’s executive director. “I think it is incredibly sad you have so many New Yorkers who are struggling and this government’s priorities are on a yacht tax credit.”